DS News - U.S. Bank

74 NATIONAL SNAPSHOT Regional HOW LOW CAN IT GO? In April 2019, 3.6% of home mortgages were in some stage of delin- quency, down from 4.3% a year earlier and the lowest for any month in more than 20 years, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report. e measure, also known as the overall delinquency rate, includes all home loans 30-days or more past due, including those in foreclosure. For the month of April, historically, the share of delinquent mortgages peaked in 2010 at 11%. Since March 2018, the overall delinquency rate each month has been lower than during the pre-crisis period of 2000 through 2006, when the rate averaged 4.7%. e serious delinquency rate—defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclo- sure—was 1.3% in April 2019, down from 1.9% in April 2018. e serious delinquency rate for April was below the average of 1.5% for the 2000–2006 pre-crisis period. e foreclosure inventory rate—meaning the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process—was 0.4% in April 2019, down from 0.5% a year earlier. April's foreclosure rate was the lowest for that month in at least 20 years and was below the average pre-crisis level of 0.6%. Rising home prices have led to record amounts of home equity, reducing the risk of foreclosure. e share of mortgages that were 30- to 59-days past due—considered early-stage delinquencies—was 1.7% in April 2019, down from 1.8% in April 2018. e share of mortgages 60- to 89-days past due was 0.6% in April 2019, unchanged from April 2018. In addition to delinquency rates, CoreLogic tracks the rate at which mortgages transition from one stage of delinquency to the next, such as going from current- to 30-days past due. Figure 1 shows that in April 2019, the current- to 30-day transition rate remained well below levels during the housing crisis. e April current- to 30-day rate was 0.7%, down from 0.8% a year earlier. e 30- to 60-day transition rate was 13.3% in April, down from 14.8% in April 2018, while the 60- to 90-day transition rate was 22.8% in April, down from 24.1% a year earlier. Figure 2 shows the states with the highest and lowest share of mortgages 30-days or more delinquent. In April 2019, that rate was highest in Mississippi at 6.9% and lowest in Colorado at 1.6%. In April, Nebraska's 3% overall delinquency rate was the same as a year earlier, while all other states logged at least a small year-over-year decline in their overall delinquency rate. Figure 3 shows the 30-plus-day past-due rate for April 2019 for the 10 largest metropolitan areas. e New York metro had the highest rate at 4.9%. Miami, with the second-highest rate at 4.8 percent, saw a sharp decrease in the overall delinquency rate, falling from 8.4 percent in April 2018. San Francisco had the lowest 30-plus-day delinquency rate in April 2019 at 1.3%. Houston also saw a large year-over-year decrease, from 7% in April 2018 to 4.5% in April 2019. STATS AT A GLANCE The nation's overall delinquency rate was 3.6% in April. The foreclosure inventory rate for April was 0.4%, where it has stood for the past six months.

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