Foreclosures

The number of homes with default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions last month was down from January but up 20% from a year ago.

The national mortgage delinquency rate jumped to 3.85% in November, up 15% month over month and 2.79% year over year, according to ICE Mortgage Technology.

The prepayment rate grew by 37% over September as mortgage rates fell leading to higher refinancing volume in October, ICE Mortgage Technology said.

Delinquencies are at their second highest level in three years, led by deterioration in the performance of FHA loans, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

FHA loans accounted for about half of the annual rise in foreclosure starts and 80% of the rise in active foreclosures in September, according to ICE.

Retroactive interpretations have bedeviled mortgage servicers and the market for older loans. The industry will be watching other cases in New York closely now.

Roughly 100,000 properties in the United States had a foreclosure filed in the third quarter this year, an increase on a quarterly and yearly basis, ATTOM said.

The latest reports from ICE Mortgage Technology and VantageScore appear to be in line with hints at growing borrower pressure officials are eyeing in policy.

Properties with default notices, scheduled auctions and REOs are up by double digits compared to last summer as buyers are mired in a high-cost environment.

While foreclosure numbers in the first six months of this year were up compared to 2024, starts eased as the spring progressed, according to Attom.

The Department of Veterans Affairs ended a break for borrowers put at a disadvantage by a discontinuation of pandemic aid as they transitioned to a new program.

Completed foreclosure auctions should be 8% lower this year, but if home value and unemployment expectations change, all bets are off, Auction.com said.

Property insurance and taxes account for over one-third of current loan performance risk, according to Auction.com's recent survey of default servicing leaders.

Fears that foreclosures and abandoned property rates could spike once Covid-19 moratoriums ended have not come to fruition, Attom Data Solutions said.

The Federal Housing Administration's clarification addresses interpretations of an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that increased industry costs.

Levels of home equity in seriously delinquent loans have fluctuated but today there's still a sufficient amount to help many access foreclosure alternatives, Intercontinental Exchange said.

But the volume of activity for distressed properties is still lower than the historic norms, Attom Data Solutions said.

Over one-third of the struggling borrowers who received recast loan terms in the first quarter cut their monthly obligation by 20% or more.

New starts surged 75% compared to a year ago, but repossessions saw their first decline in one-and-a-half years, according to Attom.

But late borrower payments slightly grew in November, with 18 metro areas reporting an increase, up from six metro areas in October, CoreLogic's report found.