Black Knight: Past-Due Mortgages Fall To 3rd-Straight Record Low In May

For the third straight month, the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate fell to yet another record low in May.

According to Black Knight's "first look" at May 2022 month-end mortgage performance data, the national delinquency rate fell another 5 basis points to 2.75%, with overall delinquencies now down 42% from this time last year.

The month did see a slight seasonal uptick (+0.2%) in early-stage delinquencies (borrowers who’ve missed a single payment), the data and analytics company said.

Meanwhile, serious delinquencies — mortgages that are 90 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure — saw strong improvement, falling another 7% from April. But even after 21 consecutive months of improvement, the population of seriously delinquent homeowners is still 45% higher than it was prior to the pandemic, Black Knight said.

Despite the elevated levels of serious delinquencies, foreclosure starts fell 12% from April and, at just under 19,000 for the month, continue to hold well below pre-pandemic levels. Similarly,  while the number of loans in active foreclosure rose marginally (+1,000), this population also remains well below pre-pandemic norms.

Finally, prepayment activity fell again as mortgage rates continued to climb, with prepays in May down 11.1% from April and down 59.1% from last year.

Black Knight will provide a more in-depth review of the data in its monthly Mortgage Monitor report, which includes an analysis of data supplemented by detailed charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations. The Mortgage Monitor report will be available by July 6, 2022.