Foreclosures down even as payments lag
Homeowners are still behind on mortgage payments, but foreclosures remain at very low levels.
Nationwide, 5.6 percent of borrowers had missed at least one mortgage payment in January. The mortgage delinquency rate declined for the fifth consecutive month to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.
“The transition rate from current to delinquent this January was the lowest in twelve months, which is another hopeful sign that family finances are beginning to improve,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic.
Only 0.3 percent of U.S. home loans were in foreclosure, with federal programs during the pandemic halting most actions by lenders.
In Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Austin were tied for the lowest home foreclosure rates in the state’s
major metro areas.
Houston had the largest percentage borrowers who had missed at least one monthly payment — 8 percent in January compared with 4.76 percent a year earlier.
Only 4.4 percent of Austin homeowners with a loan were behind on their payments, according to CoreLogic.
The late loan rates include mortgages which are in payment forbearance because of the pandemic. In early April, about 4.7 percent of homeowners with a loan were in forbearance, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
“While delinquency rates are higher than we would like to see, they continue to decline,” Frank Martell, CEO of CoreLogic, said in the latest report. “At the same time, foreclosure rates remain at historic lows.