Distressed

Mortgage delinquencies dropped to the lowest level since March but, particularly at the seriously delinquent level, they're still much higher than pre-coronavirus rates, according to Black Knight.

A Freddie Mac study of loans in forbearance from 2017 and 2020 found that, over both periods, borrowers had low credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios.

There have been several extensions of the policy since it was put into place as a way to sustain originations amid a wave of forbearance allocated to borrowers with government-related loans.

The overall mortgage delinquency rate improved in the third quarter as the economy got healthier while late-stage delinquencies hit a decade high, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While moratoria keep foreclosures low compared to last year's rates, October activity jumped 20% from September, according to Attom Data Solutions.

Growing equity levels increased the share of equity-rich and pulled borrowers out from underwater in the third quarter, according to Attom Data Solutions.

And an uptick from second-quarter numbers is attributed to seasonality rather than any upswing in the economy.

The forbearance rate improved to the a level not seen since early April, but getting back to pre-COVID levels will require employment gains or additional government stimulus measures, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The origination boom generated another profit for the company in the third quarter, when also it obtained a novel source of liquidity to support its servicing operations.

A booming housing market contrasts with a slow-to-improve job market, making for lopsided improvement in the number of troubled mortgages, according to numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association.