by Calculated Risk on 2/22/2016 09:01:00 AM

From Black Knight: Black Knight Financial Services’ First Look at January Mortgage Data: Delinquencies Up Sharply; Prepayment Rate Drops

- Delinquency rate up 6.6 percent in January; back above 5 percent nationally for the first time in 11 months

- Prepayment rate (historically a good indicator of refinance activity) dropped 29 percent to its lowest level since February 2014

- Foreclosure sales (completions) up nearly 16 percent following holiday moratoriums

- Active foreclosure inventory continues to decline; down 26 percent from last year

According to Black Knight's First Look report for January, the percent of loans delinquent increased 6.6% in January compared to December, and declined 7.1% year-over-year.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined 4.5% in December and were down 25.7% over the last year.

Black Knight reported the U.S. mortgage delinquency rate (loans 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure) was 5.09% in January, down from 4.79% in December.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined in January to 1.30%.

The number of delinquent properties, but not in foreclosure, is down 229,000 properties year-over-year, and the number of properties in the foreclosure process is down 226,000 properties year-over-year.

Black Knight will release the complete mortgage monitor for January in early March.

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	Jan 2016	Dec 2015	Jan 2015	Jan 2014
Delinquent	5.09%	4.78%	5.48%	6.25%
In Foreclosure	1.30%	1.37%	1.76%	2.41%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	2,575,000	2,408,000	2,764,000	3,150,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	659,000	689,000	885,000	1,213,000
Total Properties	3,234,000	3,097,000	3,649,000	4,363,000