Black Knight: Mortgage Delinquency Rate Decreased in October

From ICE / Black Knight: ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Foreclosure starts rose in October, despite serious delinquencies returning to 17-year lows

• The national delinquency rate fell 3 basis points (bps) to 3.26% in October, marking a 9 bps (-2.8%) improvement from the same time last year

• Serious delinquencies (90+ days past due) fell to 447K, once again hitting their lowest levels since 2006

• Loans 30-days late also declined, marking the first such improvement in five months

• Despite the improvement in delinquencies, foreclosure starts rose to 33K in October, hitting their highest levels in 18 months – while the number of foreclosure sales (completions) remained relatively flat

• Active foreclosure inventory inched up 3K to 217K, but remains more than 25% below prepandemic levels

• While foreclosure starts rose in October, near term risk remains muted, with serious delinquencies historically low and more than 70% of such loans protected from foreclosure by loss mitigation efforts

• Prepay activity (measured as single-month mortality) dwindled to just 0.43% under continued seasonal pressure, despite interest rates easing somewhat from the prior month

Black Knight: Percent Loans Delinquent and in Foreclosure Process
	October 2023	September 2023
Delinquent	3.26%	3.29%
In Foreclosure	0.41%	0.40%
Number of properties:
Number of properties that are delinquent, but not in foreclosure:	1,734,000	1,749,000
Number of properties in foreclosure pre-sale inventory:	217,000	214,000
Total Properties	1,951,000	1,963,000