by Calculated Risk on 3/06/2012 08:50:00 AM

LPS released their Mortgage Monitor report for January today.

According to LPS, 7.97% of mortgages were delinquent in January, down from 8.15% in December, and down from 8.90% in January 2011.

LPS reports that 4.15% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, up from 4.11% in December, and down slightly from 4.16% in January 2011.

This gives a total of 12.13% delinquent or in foreclosure. It breaks down as:

• 2.23 million loans less than 90 days delinquent.
• 1.77 million loans 90+ days delinquent.
• 2.08 million loans in foreclosure process.

For a total of 6.08 million loans delinquent or in foreclosure in January.

Click on graph for larger image.

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

The total delinquent rate has fallen to 7.97% from the peak in January 2010 of 10.97%, but the decline has halted. A normal rate is probably in the 4% to 5% range, so there is a long ways to go.

The in-foreclosure rate was at 4.15%, down from the record high in October 2011 of 4.29%. There are still a large number of loans in this category (about 2.08 million).

This graph provided by LPS Applied Analytics shows foreclosure starts and sales.

Foreclosure starts and sales were up sharply in January. This is just one month, but it is possible that the lenders are finally working through the backlog of loans (and this was before the mortgage servicer settlement).