CoreLogic Reports Mortgage Delinquencies Dropped to a 10-Year Low in March 2017

June 13, 2017, Irvine, Calif. – CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, today released its monthly Loan Performance Insights Report which shows that, nationally, 4.4 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due including those in foreclosure) in March 2017. This represents a 0.8 percentage point decline in the overall delinquency rate compared with March 2016 when it was 5.2 percent.

As of March 2017, the foreclosure inventory rate, which measures the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, was 0.8 percent compared with 1 percent in March 2016. The serious delinquency rate, defined as 90 days or more past due including loans in foreclosure, was 2.1 percent, down from 2.7 percent in March 2016.

Measuring early-stage delinquency rates is important for analyzing the health of the mortgage market. To comprehensively monitor mortgage performance, CoreLogic examines all stages of delinquency as well as transition rates, which indicate the percentage of mortgages moving from one stage of delinquency to the next.

Early-stage delinquencies, defined as 30-59 days past due, fell to 1.7 percent in March 2017, down from 1.9 percent in March 2016 and the lowest level since January 2000. The share of mortgages that were 60-89 days past due in March 2017 was 0.59 percent, down slightly from 0.63 percent in March 2016.

"Early-stage mortgage performance continues to improve at a steady pace, especially for 30-59-day delinquencies which fell to 1.7 percent, the lowest rate for any month since January 2000," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "Late-stage serious delinquency rates continue to decline, falling to their lowest levels since November 2007."

Since early-stage delinquencies can be volatile, CoreLogic also analyzes transition rates. The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30-days past due was 0.6 percent in March 2017, down from 0.7 percent in March 2016 and the lowest for any month since January 2000. By comparison, in January 2007, just before the start of the financial crisis, the current-to-30-day transition rate was 1.2 percent and it peaked in November 2008 at 2 percent.

"Dropping delinquency and foreclosure rates reflect the beneficial impact of stringent post-crisis underwriting standards as well as better fundamentals such as higher employment, household formation and home price gains," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Looking ahead, we expect these positive trends to continue as the industry shifts its focus toward solving supply shortages and looming affordability crises in an increasing number of markets."

For ongoing housing trends and data, visit the CoreLogic Insights Blog.

Methodology

The data in this report represents foreclosure and delinquency activity reported through March 2017.

The data in this report accounts for only first liens against a property and does not include secondary liens. The delinquency, transition, and foreclosure rates are measured only against homes that have an outstanding mortgage. Generally, homes with no mortgage liens are not subject to foreclosure and are, therefore, excluded from the analysis. Approximately one-third of homes nationally are owned outright and do not have a mortgage. CoreLogic has approximately 85 percent coverage of U.S. foreclosure data.

About CoreLogic

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) is a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider. The company's combined data from public, contributory and proprietary sources includes over 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years, providing detailed coverage of property, mortgages and other encumbrances, consumer credit, tenancy, location, hazard risk and related performance information. The markets CoreLogic serves include real estate and mortgage finance, insurance, capital markets, and the public sector. CoreLogic delivers value to clients through unique data, analytics, workflow technology, advisory and managed services. Clients rely on CoreLogic to help identify and manage growth opportunities, improve performance and mitigate risk. Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., CoreLogic operates in North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please visit www.corelogic.com.