"First Look" at Foreclosure Milestone -Black Knight

The number of pending foreclosures nationwide, the “foreclosurerninventory,” reached a milestone in February. rnFor the first time since December 2007 it has dipped slightly belowrn800,000.  The total, which still roundsrnup to 800,000, fell 15,000 from January and is 315,000 units lower than inrnFebruary 2014.   </p

Black Knight Financial Services released information on therninventory and other foreclosure data in its “first look” at the months mortgagernperformance data.  The company willrnprovide more detail on this data in its MortgagernMonitor due to be published on April 6. </p

The homes in the foreclosure inventory in Februaryrnrepresented 1.58 percent of the mortgaged residential properties in the US, arndecline of 1.91 percent from January and nearly 29 percent from February 2014. </p

The delinquency rate also hit a near eight-year low,rndropping to 5.36 percent in February, the lowest 30-day rate since August 2007rnand a 3.70 decline from January and 10.24 percent from the same month lastrnyear.  The rate translates into 2.71rnmillion mortgages which are 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure, arndecrease of 100,000 month-over-month and 278,000 since the previous February.  Of those loans 1.07 million are seriouslyrndelinquent, that is over 90 days past due, but not in foreclosure.  This is 45,000 fewer than in January and arn-175,000 change on an annual basis.</p

Foreclosure starts were also down for the month by 15.48rnpercent to 79,700.  This was a decreasernof 13.37 percent year-over-year.</p

The total number of distressed loans at the end of February -rn30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure – was 3.5 million.  This was 116,000 fewer than in January and a 594,000rnimprovement over 12 months.</p

The percentage of non-current loans remains in double digits<bin four states, Mississippi (13.49 percent), New Jersey (11.67 percent),rnLouisiana (10.73 percent), and New York (10.18 percent).  Rhode Island rounds out the top five statesrnfor delinquencies at 9.99 percent.  Inrnall five states delinquencies have declined over the last year. </p

Black Knight also reports a significant jump in thernprepayment rate for loans in February. rnThe SMM jumped 31.5 percent from January and was up 75 percent year-over-year.  Prepayment rates are correlated with rates ofrnrefinancing.

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