U.S. mortgage delinquency plummeted to a historic depth, according to new data from CoreLogic that determined 2.6% of all mortgages were in some stage of delinquency during May. This is down from 2.8% in April and 2.7% in May 2022.
During May, early-stage delinquencies (30 to 59 days past due) were at 1.3% of all mortgages, up from 1.1% in May 2022, while adverse delinquency (60 to 89 days past due) was 0.4%, up from 0.3% in May 2022.
However, serious delinquency (90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure) was at 1%, down from 1.3% in May 2022 and from its pandemic-era high of 4.3% in August 2020. The foreclosure inventory rate and transition rate (when mortgages devolve from current to 30 days past due) were unchanged from one year ago at 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.
“May’s overall mortgage delinquency rate matched the all-time low, and serious delinquencies followed suit,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “Furthermore, the rate of mortgages that were six months or more past due, a measure that ballooned in 2021, has receded to a level last observed in March 2020.”
CoreLogic noted that 14 states posted an annual increase in overall delinquency rates in May while another 14 saw no change in overall delinquency rates from one year earlier. The remaining states’ annual delinquency rates dropped between 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points.
