by Calculated Risk on 3/23/2017 07:00:00 AM

From Black Knight: Black Knight Financial Services’ First Look at February Mortgage Data: Prepayment Activity Continues to Decline, Down 40 Percent So Far in 2017

• Prepayment speeds (historically a good indicator of refinance activity) declined 15 percent in February, marking a 40 percent overall year-to-date decline and the lowest monthly rate in three years

  • Delinquencies continued their seasonal decline, ticking down .98 percent from January

  • Foreclosure starts fell 18 percent from last month to 31 percent below last year’s levels

  • Active foreclosure inventory now stands at 470,000, the lowest such level since June 2007

According to Black Knight's First Look report for February, the percent of loans delinquent decreased 1.0% in February compared to January, and declined 5.5% year-over-year.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined 1.9% in February and were down 28.5% 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 4.21% in February, down from 4.25% in January.

The percent of loans in the foreclosure process declined in February to 0.93%.

The number of delinquent properties, but not in foreclosure, is down 117,000 properties year-over-year, and the number of properties in the foreclosure process is down 185,000 properties year-over-year.

Still improving, but the improvement has slowed.

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	Feb 2017	Jan 2017	Feb 2016	Feb 2015
Delinquent	4.21%	4.25%	4.45%	5.30%
In Foreclosure	0.93%	0.94%	1.30%	1.72%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	2,135,000	2,162,000	2,252,000	2,671,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	470,000	481,000	655,000	866,000
Total Properties	2,605,000	2,643,000	2,907,000	3,537,000