Black Knight: Mortgage Delinquency Rate Increased Slightly in July

• While the national delinquency rate edged up 9 basis points in July to 3.21%, it was down 12 basis points year over year and remains within 12 basis points of March’s record low

• Meanwhile, serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) continued to improve, falling to 468K – the lowest level seen since the pre-Great Financial Crisis housing market peak and down 161K (-26%) from July 2022

• 30-day delinquencies rose by 35K in the month, with 60-day DQs rising by 17K (6.4%) – while those 90+ days past due fell by 3K (-0.6%)

• Loans in active foreclosure fell to 220K – the fewest since just after the end of federal foreclosure moratoria – and remain down 63K (-22%) from February 2020, prior to the pandemic

• July’s 26.3K foreclosure starts were 4% below the average number of such actions over the preceding 12 months and remain 39% below pre-pandemic levels

• Foreclosure starts equated to 5.6% of 90+ day delinquencies – still more than three percentage points below pre-pandemic foreclosure referral rates – while July’s 6.1K foreclosure sales (completions) nationally were down 11% from June

• Prepayment activity fell under easing seasonal home buying pressure along with interest rates briefly rising above 7% and ending July at 6.88%, with prepayments still down 28% from July 2022

emphasis added

According to Black Knight’s First Look report, the percent of loans delinquent increased 2.9% in July compared to June and decreased 3.6% year-over-year.

Black Knight reported the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) was 3.21% in July, up from 3.12% the previous month.