Good news has come from the housing market involving mortgages and delinquencies across the nation. According to a recent report, the rate of foreclosures and loan delinquencies is now at the lowest it has been since before the 2008 financial crisis.
The report comes from the Data and Analytics division of Black Knight, Inc. and showed that just shy of four percent of mortgages nationwide were delinquent as of 2018, which is down 18 percent from 2017. One word of caution from the report was that it was possible that these figures could be inflated by the after-effects from the 2017 and 2018 hurricanes. The effect could not be too significant, however, since areas that were not impacted by hurricanes were also down 11 percent from 2017. It is anticipated that these rates will decrease even more and could even go lower than they were before the recession.
Mortgages that were seriously delinquent also went down as of the end of 2018. A mortgage is said to be seriously delinquent when the payment is more than 90 days past due. Foreclosure starts, as well as foreclosure sales, were at an 18-year low, according to Black Knight’s reports.
Of all of the states, Colorado reported the lowest serious delinquent rate at 0.37 percent, while Mississippi was at the highest at 3.06 percent. The national foreclosure rate was also down 19 percent over 2018, dropping 0.52 percent from 2017. Even more promising were reports that five states experienced more than 30 percent declines in their foreclosure rates, including New Jersey, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Utah and D.C.
States that reported the highest number of non-current home loans, meaning loan obligations that were in some level of delinquency or were past due, were from southern states, including Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Colorado, North Dakota, Idaho, Washington and Oregon reported the lowest number of non-current loans.
As of the end of 2018, 60,000 loans were in foreclosure to the point where the borrower had not made a payment in over two years. Over 40,000 loans had not received a payment in at least five years. These figures may seem high, but the report also showed that the aged foreclosure inventory rate was dropping, as well.
In fact, foreclosures that were ongoing for five or more years dropped by 35 percent from 2017 to 2018. Interestingly enough, the aged foreclosures seem to be from two states, including New York and Florida. These two states alone claim 40 percent and 20 percent respectively of aged foreclosure loans.
Many borrowers are taking this opportunity to refinance their mortgages. The report indicated that the lower rate of mortgage foreclosures in the last two months alone led to a 50 percent increase in the number of borrowers seeking a refinance on their mortgages.
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Choosing the right attorney can make the difference between whether or not you can keep your home. A well-qualified Miami foreclosure defense attorney will not only help you keep your home, but they will be able to negotiate a loan that has payments you can afford. Miami foreclosure defense attorney Timothy Kingcade has helped many facing foreclosure alleviate their stress by letting them stay in their homes for at least another year, allowing them to re-organize their lives. If you have any questions on the topic of foreclosure, please feel free to contact me at (305) 285-9100. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade Garcia McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.