by Calculated Risk on 1/24/2024 03:56:00 PM

From ICE (formerly Black Knight): ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: December Delinquencies Rise on Calendar Effects; Foreclosures Approach Two-year Lows

• In large part due to December ending on a Sunday, delaying the processing of payments made on the last day of the month, the national delinquency rate hit 3.57%, up 19 bps from November

• Though the rise (+5.6%) was larger than an average December (+1.4%), it was milder than past Sunday-month-end Decembers, which have seen delinquencies jump +9.9% on average

• Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) rose to 475K, but were still 19% (-108K) below where they were they ended December 2022

• December’s 24K foreclosure starts marked an 18-month low in new activity, with total active foreclosures the lowest since March 2022 (212K), still 25% below (-71K) pre-pandemic levels

• Likewise, the 5.4K foreclosure sales (completions) in December were down -17.2% from November and the fewest since February 2022 – shortly after the end of COVID-era moratoria

• Prepayment activity rose +4.9% to a single month mortality rate of 0.39% on improving interest rates, but prepays remain constrained by both seasonal and affordability pressures
emphasis added

Note: that last column below is for the same month in 2019 to show the change from pre-pandemic levels.

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	Dec 2023	Nov 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2019
Delinquent	3.57%	3.39%	3.08%	3.40%
In Foreclosure	0.40%	0.41%	0.37%	0.46%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	1,908,000	1,804,000	1,653,000	1,803,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	212,000	216,000	198,000	245,000
Total Properties	2,120,000	2,020,000	1,850,000	2,047,000