The May Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) reports that the number of mortgages that are 90 or more days delinquent, combined with the foreclosure inventory at the end of May, totaled 4,084,557. With foreclosure sales at 78,676 at month end, the volume of serious delinquencies and foreclosures overshadowed the number of foreclosure sales by 50:1. In fact, there are still significantly fewer foreclosure sales than there were before foreclosure moratoria were put into place, and foreclosure sales are declining.
The May data from Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) shows that the biggest drop in foreclosure sales has been seen in East Coast states, with a decline of 96 percent in Washington, D.C.; 80 percent in Maryland; 79 percent in New York; and 75 percent in New Jersey. Additionally, inventories of foreclosures in judicial states have increased twice as much as inventories in non-judicial states over the last year.
The average time spent in foreclosure continues to extend, with more than 33 percent of borrowers in foreclosure not having made a payment in over two years.
New problem loans, defined as loans that were current six months ago and were 60 or more days delinquent at the end of May, are now less than half the peak levels seen in 2009, and are currently at 1.27 percent. Overall, when compared to historical norms, delinquencies are almost double and foreclosures are eight times higher.
Negative equity also remains a concern, with nearly 30 percent of current loans in a negative equity position. The equity impact on new seriously delinquent loans is significant, with loans significantly under-water defaulting up to 10 times as much as loans with equity.
As reported in LPS' latest First Look release, other key results from LPS' latest Mortgage Monitor report include:
►Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 7.96 percent
►Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: -0.1 percent
►Year-over-year change in delinquency rate: -18.3 percent
►Total U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 4.11 percent
►Month-over-month change in foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: -0.7 percent
