by Calculated Risk on 6/29/2011 12:45:00 PM

LPS Applied Analytics released their May Mortgage Performance data. From LPS:

The May Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) shows that the number of mortgages that are 90 or more days delinquent, combined with the foreclosure inventory at the end of May, totaled 4,084,557. With foreclosure sales at 78,676 at month end, the volume of serious delinquencies and foreclosures over-shadowed the number of foreclosure sales by 50:1. In fact, there are still significantly fewer foreclosure sales than there were before foreclosure moratoria were put into place, and foreclosure sales are declining.

New problem loans, defined as loans that were current six months ago and were 60 or more days delinquent at the end of May, are now less than half the peak levels seen in 2009, and are currently at 1.27%. Overall, when compared to historical norms, delinquencies are almost double and foreclosures are eight times higher.

Negative equity also remains a concern, with nearly 30% of current loans in a negative equity position. The equity impact on new seriously delinquent loans is significant, with loans significantly under-water defaulting up to 10 times as much as loans with equity.

According to LPS, 7.96% of mortgages were delinquent in May, down slightly from 7.97% in April, and down from 9.74% in May 2010.

LPS reports that 4.11% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, down from 4.14% in April. This gives a total of 12.07% delinquent or in foreclosure. It breaks down as:

• 2.27 million loans less than 90 days delinquent.
• 1.92 million loans 90+ days delinquent.
• 2.16 million loans in foreclosure process.

For a total of 6.35 million loans delinquent or in foreclosure in May.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the total delinquent and in-foreclosure rates since 1995.

The total delinquent rate has fallen to 7.96% from the peak in January 2010 of 10.97%. A normal rate is probably in the 4% to 5% range, so there is still a long way to go.

However the in-foreclosure rate at 4.11% is barely below the peak rate of 4.21% in March 2011. There are still a large number of loans in this category (about 2.16 million).

This graph provided by LPS Applied Analytics shows the aging for the in-foreclosure bucket.

About 34% of those 2.16 million loans in the foreclosure process have not made a payment in over 2 years. Another 35% have not made a payment in over a year (but less than 2 years).

The good news is there has been some improvement in the early stages, however there are still 4.08 million loans seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process.