Fewer Mortgage Delinquencies and Cash Sales

The latest housing data shows dramatic changes in the behavior of current and potential homeowners.

New numbers released by Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS) is showing the national delinquency rate dropped in March to 4.08 percent, an 8.37 percent decline from February and a 12.42 percent plummet from March 2015. The national delinquency rate is at its lowest level since March 2007 and the rate of 30-delinquencies—just under two percent—is the lowest level in over 15 years. U.S. foreclosure starts in March totaled 72,800, a 13.64 percent fall from the previous month and a 21.04 percent drop from one year earlier.

Separately, new data from CoreLogic found that cash sales accounted for 35.5 percent of total home sales in January 2016, a 4.2 percent year-over-year decline. However, the cash sales share increased by 1.9 percentage points in January 2016 compared with December 2015, although CoreLogic noted that this type of increase was not unusual in January.

Real estate-owned (REO) sales had the largest cash sales share in January at 59.8 percent, although these transactions accounted for only 7.8 percent of all sales during the month. Alabama had the largest cash sales share of any state, with 53.1 percent of all activity, while Detroit had the largest metro area cash sales activity with 65.6 percent.