The December Mortgage Monitor Report released by Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) shows that mortgage originations continued their decline from 2011's September peak, down 10.1 percent from the month before. At the same time, those loans originated over the last two years have proven to be some of the best quality originations on record. Likely a result of tighter lending requirements, 2010-2011 vintage originations showed 90-day default rates below those of all other years, going back to 2005. December origination data also shows that recent prepayment activity— a key indicator of mortgage refinances—has remained strong, with 2008-2009 originations, high credit score borrowers and government-backed loans having benefited the most from recent, historically low interest rates.
Looking at judicial vs. non-judicial foreclosure states, LPS found that half of all loans in foreclosure in judicial states have not made a payment in more than two years. Foreclosure sale rates in non-judicial states stood at approximately four times that of judicial foreclosure states in December. Still, on average, pipeline ratios have declined significantly.
The December mortgage performance data also showed that foreclosure starts continued to decline, remaining at multi-year lows as of the end of 2011, down 3.7 percent for the month, and nearly 40 percent for the year.
As reported in LPS' First Look release, other key results from LPS' latest Mortgage Monitor report include:
►Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 8.15%
►Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: 0.0%
►Total U.S foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 4.11%
►Month-over-month change in foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: -1.3%
►States with highest percentage of non-current loans: Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois
►States with the lowest percentage of non-current loans: Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Alaska and North Dakota
