by Calculated Risk on 5/21/2019 08:51:00 AM

From Black Knight: Black Knight’s First Look: Strong April Mortgage Performance Pushes National Delinquency Rate to New Record Low; Prepayment Activity Continues to Rise

• Following a slow start to the year, the national delinquency rate fell by more than 5% month-over-month; at 3.47%, it is now at its lowest level on record dating back to 2000

• Serious delinquencies – loans 90 or more days past due, but not yet in foreclosure – fell to 474,000, marking a 124,000 year-over-year decline and a 12-year low

• While monthly foreclosure starts edged up slightly from March’s 18-year low, the number of loans in active foreclosure continued to shrink, hitting a more than 13-year low in April

• Prepayment activity continues to press upward, driven by a combination of low interest rates and seasonal increases in home sale activity

• The prepayment rate on first-lien mortgages rose 17% from March, bringing the three-month aggregate increase to 67%

According to Black Knight's First Look report for April, the percent of loans delinquent decreased 5.0% in April compared to March, and decreased 5.4% year-over-year.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process decreased 2.2% in April and were down 18.8% 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 3.47% in April, down from 3.65% in March.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process decreased slightly in April to 0.50% from 0.51% in March.

The number of delinquent properties, but not in foreclosure, is down 73,000 properties year-over-year, and the number of properties in the foreclosure process is down 55,000 properties year-over-year.

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	Apr 2019	Mar 2019	Apr 2018	Apr 2017
Delinquent	3.47%	3.65%	3.67%	4.08%
In Foreclosure	0.50%	0.51%	0.61%	0.85%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	1,812,000	1,903,000	1,885,000	2,072,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	259,000	264,000	314,000	433,000
Total Properties	2,072,000	2,167,000	2,199,000	2,505,000