JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Lender Processing Services has released its “first look” mortgage report, which shows the percentage of first mortgage loans that are 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure has dropped below 6.5% for the first time since July 2008.
Through April, the U.S. loan delinquency rate is 6.21%, which represents a 5.81% decrease on monthly basis and down 9.61% from a year ago.
Overall, more than 3.1 million housing units are delinquent but not in foreclosure. Another 1.5 million properties are in the foreclosure presale inventory.
Even though these figures combined still represent a large volume of properties either 30 or more days delinquent or in foreclosure, April marks the second consecutive month in which the numbers are below 5 million, which has not happened in more than five years, the company said.
The highest percentage of mortgage loans that were delinquent can be found in Florida, New Jersey, Mississippi, Nevada and New York. Conversely, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota have the fewest delinquent mortgage loans, according to the company.
Another positive highlight from this month’s report is that the number of Americans in the foreclosure process declined by nearly 25% compared to a year ago. LPS said the total U.S. foreclosure presale inventory stands at 3.17% through April.
