The January Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) shows that foreclosure starts rose 28 percent, while foreclosure sales spiked 29 percent in January. While one month of data does not necessarily indicate a trend, this surge could suggest the backlogged foreclosure pipeline is beginning to move. The January data also showed that the percentage of repeat foreclosures hit a new all-time high, with 47 percent of all foreclosure starts falling into that category.
Despite the sharp increase in foreclosure sales, the contrast between judicial and non-judicial foreclosure states remains stark, with sales in non-judicial states outpacing judicial by over three to one. While foreclosure inventories in judicial states still far outweigh those in non-judicial, the recent surge in foreclosure sales is having a significant impact on pipeline ratios. Even in judicial states, the average pipeline ratio is now at 63 months; though still more than twice as high as non-judicial states. This is down from a high of 147 months at its peak in February of 2011.
The January mortgage performance data also showed that new problem loan rates are still relatively low nationally at 1.4 percent. Still, pockets of trouble exist, and the top five states for new seriously delinquent loans in January were Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona and Georgia, respectively.
As reported by LPS, other key results include:
►Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 7.97 percent
►Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: -2.2 percent
►Total U.S foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 4.15 percent
►Month-over-month change in foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 1.1 percent
►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, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota and North Dakota
