Both the rate of mortgage delinquency and the rate of foreclosures have fallen to their lowest levels in nearly seven years.
Residential loan delinquency of at least 30 days, including foreclosures, finished the third quarter of this year at 8.24 percent.
The rate of past-due payments on home loans made a nice improvement over the second quarter, when it came in at 8.53 percent.
An even bigger improvement was made compared to the third-quarter 2013, with a 125-basis-point decline recorded from a year earlier.
The loan performance metrics were reported in the National Delinquency Survey Q3 2014 from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Delinquency on prime mortgages fell to 4.79 percent from 5.07 percent as of June 30, 2014.
On subprime loans, the rate improved to 28.56 percent in the third quarter from 29.05 percent.
The 30-day rate on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration declined 6 BPS from three months earlier to 12.42 percent.
At 6.76 percent, delinquency on mortgages guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs was down 5 BPS from the second quarter.
The total delinquency rate for all loans included a seasonally adjusted 5.85 percent 30-day rate excluding foreclosures — the lowest level since the fourth-quarter 2007’s 5.82 percent.
The rate was 6.04 three months earlier and 6.41 percent a year earlier.
At 10.77 percent, Mississippi had the highest 30-day rate. A distant second was Alabama’s 8.42 percent. After that was Louisiana’s 8.38 percent, Georgia’s 7.95 percent and Indiana’s 7.77 percent.
At the bottom of the list was North Dakota, where the 30-day rate was just 2.29 percent.
Also included in the total rate was a 2.39 percent U.S. foreclosure inventory rate.
No seasonal adjustment was made to the foreclosure rate, which hasn’t been this low since it was 2.04 percent in the fourth-quarter 2007. At the time, it was the worst rate on record.
The foreclosure rate was 2.49 percent in the second quarter and 3.08 percent in the third-quarter 2013.
Coming in with the highest foreclosure rate was New Jersey, where 7.96 percent of loans were in foreclosure. Florida followed with a 6.12 percent rate. Next was 5.72 percent in New York, 4.29 percent in Maine and 3.73 percent in Connecticut.
Wyoming’s 0.54 percent was the lowest foreclosure rate in the country.