by Calculated Risk on 4/22/2016 09:10:00 AM

From Black Knight: Black Knight Financial Services’ First Look at March 2016 Mortgage Data: Delinquencies at Lowest Level in Nine Years; 30-Day Delinquency Rate Lowest Since Pre-2000

• National delinquency rate fell 8 percent in March; at 4.08 percent, it is at its lowest point since March 2007

• At just under 2 percent, the rate of 30-day delinquencies is at lowest level in over 15 years

• Spurred by declining interest rates, prepayment speeds (historically a good indicator of refinance activity) were up 46 percent from one month ago

• Foreclosure starts were down 14 percent from February; still driven primarily by repeat foreclosure activity

According to Black Knight's First Look report for March, the percent of loans delinquent decreased 8.4% in March compared to February, and declined 12.4% year-over-year.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined 3.7% in March and were down 25.6% 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 4.08% in March, down from 4.48% in February.  This is the lowest delinquency rate since March 2007.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined in March to 1.25%.

The number of delinquent properties, but not in foreclosure, is down 287,000 properties year-over-year, and the number of properties in the foreclosure process is down 215,000 properties year-over-year.

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

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	Mar 2016	Feb 2016	Mar 2015	Mar 2014
Delinquent	4.08%	4.45%	4.66%	5.49%
In Foreclosure	1.25%	1.30%	1.68%	2.21%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	2,062,000	2,252,000	2,349,000	2,766,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	631,000	655,000	846,000	1,112,000
Total Properties	2,693,000	2,907,000	3,195,000	3,878,000