The three co-creators of Foreclosure-Response.org—the Urban Institute, the Center for Housing Policy, and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)—have compiled and released the newest data on seriously delinquent mortgages for all 366 U.S. metro areas. Key findings from the September data:
►In more than half of all U.S. metropolitan areas, the percent of mortgages that were seriously delinquent rose from September 2009 to 2010. Despite this, the picture is not entirely bleak. In more than two-fifths of metro areas, serious delinquency rates appear to be stabilizing. In addition, the serious delinquency rates experienced less growth in the year ending September 2010 compared with the year ending June 2010.
►Between September 2009 and September 2010, the share of “at risk” mortgages rose in 206 out of 366 metropolitan areas nationwide. There are, however, some signs of stabilization. The serious delinquency rate held steady in 24 metropolitan areas and dropped in another 136 metro areas—adding up to more than two-fifths of metro areas with stable or dropping rates of “at risk” mortgages. This is a substantial departure from the prior trend of rising serious delinquency rates across the country. By contrast, only eight metropolitan areas had stable or dropping serious delinquency rates between June 2009 and June 2010.
►In general, serious delinquency rates rose only moderately compared with the prior quarter. In the twelve month period ending in September 2010, the serious delinquency rate rose by 3.0 percentage points or more in just one metropolitan area (the Vineland, NJ metro area). By comparison, 14 metropolitan areas saw their serious delinquency rates rise by at least that much between June 2009 and June 2010.
As used here, the terms “serious delinquency” or mortgages “at risk” are used interchangeably to refer to first lien mortgages that are either 90+ days delinquent or in foreclosure. Homeowners experiencing serious delinquency are at substantial risk of losing their homes.
Metropolitan Florida experienced the highest serious delinquency rates nationwide. Foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies continue to plague the Sunshine State more than the rest of country. Fifteen out of the 25 metro areas with the highest rates of “at risk” mortgages in September 2010 were in Florida. Nearly one in four mortgages in the Miami metro area (24.6 percent) was either in foreclosure or 90-plus days’ delinquent. The percent of mortgages “at risk” was at least moderate in all of Florida’s 20 metropolitan areas. The Gainesville metropolitan area ranked the lowest in the state with 9.0 percent of mortgages “at risk.”
The percent of mortgages “at risk” is high and rising in the Las Vegas metro area; in Nevada’s other metro areas serious delinquency rates are more moderate but on the rise. The Las Vegas metro area had the second highest serious delinquency rate in September 2010 (23.3 percent) and ranked 13th in the nation for growth in its serious delinquency rate (1.5 percentage points in one year). The percentages of mortgages “at risk” in the Reno and Carson City metropolitan areas were relatively moderate at 13.7 percent and 10.9 percent respectively, but both areas have seen relatively large increases in their serious delinquency rates over the past year. The Carson City metro area ranked second in the nation in growth in the serious delinquency rate (2.5 percentage point increase from the prior year), and the Reno metro area ranked eighth (1.9 percentage point increase). This suggests that foreclosures in Nevada are likely to continue to rise.
The new data are the latest in a series of quarterly data, released by the Foreclosure-Response.org team first in late 2010, that provided the first-ever data on serious delinquency rates for all 366 U.S. metros.
For more information, visit foreclosure-response.org.
