February 21, 2019
Delinquencies (For Most Markets) Recently Hit Lowest Rate in a Decade
According to a recent CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report, serious mortgage loan delinquencies—that is, repeated failures to make payment on a mortgage—along with foreclosures, fell in 2018 to their lowest rate overall since 2006. The report measured serious delinquency by considering it to indicate homeowners who were late on making their mortgage payment by more than 30 days. By this rubric, the number of serious delinquencies in the nation averaged in at only 4.3 in June and in March. By comparison, that number was 4.6 at the same time in 2017. Foreclosures came in at .5 percent in June 2018, where they were .7 percent in June 2017. In all, the number of mortgage delinquencies fell below 500,000 in October 2018 for the first time in more than a decade. This was a remarkable decrease in number following a brief spike the previous month.
This culminates a decade-long decline in the number of defaults and foreclosures, which spiked during the financial and market crisis we refer to as the “Great Recession,” the largest-scale effects of which were felt during 2008. These positive changes have come about in lock-step with rising employment and a concurrent growth in home equity.
Unfortunately, there are a few areas where this overall trend has not held sway: those areas affected by natural disasters. Among these is our service area of Florida.
Following the landing of Hurricane Irma in September 2017, and also consequent to Hurricane Michael’s landfall in October 2018, the number of serious 30-day plus delinquencies in Florida jumped precipitously. The tendency is for delinquencies to rise in the wake of natural disasters, because homeowners need time to determine whether the damage done to their property is worth fixing, or whether they should instead sell the property in its damaged state.
At Topouzis & Associates, P.C., not only do we offer the services that ensure your title gets conveyed clear of defects, we supply purchasers with Owner’s Policies of title insurance. Contact us if you want your property transfer in Cranston, Rhode Island; Springfield, Massachusetts; or Miami, Florida to go through without a hitch—both before and after closing.
