The mortgage delinquency rate (the rate of borrowers 60 days or more delinquent on their mortgages) fell to 2.95% in the first quarter ended March 31, the first time the variable has been below 3% since before the recession in the third quarter of 2007, when it was 2.61%. It also marks the 13th consecutive quarterly drop in the mortgage delinquency rate, which is down from 3.29% from Q4 2014.
On a yearly basis, the delinquency rate dropped nearly 18% from 3.59% in Q1 2014.
The delinquency rate for subprime consumers declined to 27.23% in the first quarter, down nearly 9% from 29.76% in Q1 2014. The delinquency rate for these consumers peaked in Q1 2010 at 40.48%. As a comparison, the delinquency rate for all consumers also had peaked in Q1 2010 at 6.94%.
"It's taken more than seven years, but the mortgage delinquency rate has reached pre-recession levels. We continue to see a steady decline in the mortgage delinquency rate, primarily driven by strong performance by newer vintage loans," said Joe Mellman, vice president and head of TransUnion's mortgage group. "It's also encouraging to see continued delinquency rate declines for the subprime and near-prime risk groups."
The findings were reported in the latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report, a quarterly overview summarizing data, trends and perspectives on the U.S. consumer lending industry. The report is based on anonymized credit data from virtually every credit-active consumer in the United States.
Every state experienced a yearly decline in their mortgage loan delinquency rate and most major metropolitan statistical areas also saw robust drops in their delinquencies. Notable MSA declines were observed in Miami, which was down 36.1% from 9.62% in Q1 2014 to 6.15% in Q1 2015, and San Francisco, which as down 31.1% from 1.92% in Q1 2014 to 1.32% in Q1 2015.
"It's a positive sign to see double-digit percentage delinquency declines in major markets across the country, as it demonstrates the improvements are widespread -- not just a regional phenomenon," added Mellman.
Average mortgage balances per consumer also continued to increase on both a quarterly and yearly basis to $187,175 in Q1 2015. Mortgage balances were at $186,836 at this same time last year, and at $187,139 in Q4 2014.
The share of mortgage balances held by consumers who are currently subprime and near-prime dropped by 9.8% and 2.9% respectively, which is consistent with recent years. Subprime and near-prime consumers currently hold only 32% of the total balances they held at the beginning of 2010. By comparison, prime, prime plus, and super-prime consumers hold roughly the same amount of mortgage balances as they did at the beginning of 2010.
TransUnion recorded 53.0 million mortgage accounts as of Q1 2015, down from 53.4 million in Q1 2014. There are nearly 9 million fewer accounts as compared to Q1 2009 (61.6 million).
Viewed one quarter in arrears (to ensure all accounts are reported and included in the data), Q4 2014 mortgage originations of 1.45 million accounts is down 6.7% on a quarterly basis, but it is up 3.8% since Q4 2013. Account originations in all risk tiers showed year-over-year growth, with super prime leading the way at 5.1%, largely driven by jumbo loan activity.
