According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) 2Q12 National Delinquency Survey, mortgage delinquency rates have largely increased.
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 7.58% of all loans outstanding at the end of 2Q12. The rate rose 18 basis points from 1Q12, but dropped 86 basis points from the same period in 2011.
Meanwhile, the non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate grew 41 basis points to 7.35% this quarter from 6.94% last quarter.
With these increases, the MBA noted that delinquency rates typically rise between the first and second quarters of the year.
“Perhaps more important than the small size of the increase [of delinquencies], however, is the fact that it reversed the trend of fairly steady drops in delinquencies we have seen over the last year,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist did he say this in the conference call. “This is consistent with the slowdown in the economy during the first half of the year and our stubbornly high unemployment rate.”
Foreclosure Actions
Meanwhile, the percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started over 2Q12 was at 0.96%, which is the same from 1Q12 and last year.
The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the second quarter was 4.2%, decreasing 12 basis points from the first quarter and 16 basis points from a year ago. The survey found that the serious delinquency rate, which is the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more past due or are in the process of foreclosure, was 7.31%. This fell 13 basis points from the first quarter and 54 basis points from the same period in 2011.
The survey’s results also revealed that the total percentage of loans in foreclosure, or at least with one payment past due, was 11.62% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, which is a 29 basis point rise from last quarter, but a 92 basis point drop from the same quarter last year.
In a conference call regarding MBA’s survey, Brinkmann further elaborated on the overall impact of the foreclosure decline and said it varied from state to state.
“The issue is that the decline is much faster and is reaching normal levels. It’s not a national story, but more of a state and local story,” Brinkmann said. “Things are clearing out much faster. It’s going to differ by state.”
He added that the numbers will largely depend on whether people in a state have jobs. “Housing is tied to unemployment numbers,” Brinkmann said. “Until we see a pickup in job creation, we can’t expect fundamental improvement in housing department.”
For instance, MBA’s press release regarding the survey reported that Florida continues to have the highest percentage of loans in foreclosure at 13.7%, which is three times the national average. This is followed by New Jersey at 7.7 %, Illinois at 7.1%, and New York at 6.5%. By contrast, Arizona and California, two states that were among the ones to be impacted the hardest by the housing downturn, were at 3.2% and 3.1%.
Brinkmann added that both of those low percentages are more than a full percentage point below the national average.
Also in terms of a state-to-state outlook, Maryland exhibited the highest rate of new foreclosure actions in the nation during the second quarter, which is more than double the national average.
At the same time, Maryland also had the greatest decrease in loans 90 days or more past due but not in foreclosure. The large dip is a key factor in working through the backlog of the state’s problem loans.
