Following three consecutive months of deterioration, serious delinquency on residential first mortgages retreated last month. Junior lien performance, meanwhile, was stable.
Delinquency of at least 90 days on first mortgages was 1.58 percent in January.
The past-due rate came in lower than in December, when 90-day delinquency was 1.68 percent. Prior to January, first-mortgage delinquency had increased each month since September, when the rate was at a post-recession low of 1.36 percent.
Even more substantial was the decline from January 2012, when the rate was 2.08 percent.
The performance data was included in the S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices released Tuesday.
Second-mortgage delinquency came in at 0.69 percent last month, the same as in December.
But the second-mortgage rate has improved significantly from a year earlier, when serious delinquency was 1.30 percent.
The national composite index, which additionally reflects late payments on bank cards and auto loans, declined to 1.63 percent from 1.72 percent and was 2.16 percent in January 2012.
The composite index was 3.45 percent in Miami — the worst of the five-largest metropolitan statistical areas and higher than 3.07 percent during December.
Dallas maintained the lowest MSA composite rate: 1.19 percent.
