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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) [1] Mortgage Metrics Report for Q1 2020 found 96.5% of mortgages were current and performing at the end of the quarter. This is a slight increase from Q1 2019’s 96.2%.
During Q1 2020, servicers initiated 19,815 foreclosure, which is a decline of 10.9% from the prior quarter and an annual drop of 28.2%. Servicers completed 14,241 mortgage modifications in Q1 2020, and 85.7% of the modifications reduced borrowers’ monthly payments.
The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC’s report made up 28.7% of all residential mortgages outstanding in the U.S.—approximately 15.4 million loans totaling $3 trillion in principal balances.
The share of outstanding principal has been falling steadily since 2018. In Q1 2018, there was a total of $3.29 billion in unpaid principal. This has fallen to $3.05 billion in Q1 2020.
The OCC reported that just 1.8% of homes are between 30 and 58 days delinquent and just 0.3% of homes are currently in foreclosure.
The overall delinquency rate in March 2020 was 3.6%, which is a slight decline of 0.4% from March, according to CoreLogic’s Loan Performance Insights Report. [2]
“The first three months of 2020 reflected one of the strongest quarters for U.S. mortgage performance in recent history. The build-up in home equity over the past several years, government stimulus programs, and lower borrowing costs have helped cushion homeowners from the initial financial shock of the pandemic and kept widespread delinquencies at bay during the first months of the recession,” said Frank Martell, President and CEO, CoreLogic. “Looking ahead, we can expect a more widespread impact on U.S. delinquency rates as the economic toll of elevated unemployment and shelter-in-place orders becomes more evident.”
Early-stage delinquencies—those categorized by 30 days or fewer—was 1.9% for March. The delinquency rate for mortgages more than 60 days past due was 0.6% and serious delinquency—those more than 90 days past due—was 1.2%.
March was also the third consecutive month that the serious delinquency rate has been at its lowest level since June 2000.
March’s foreclosure inventory rate was 0.4%—unchanged from March 2019. Also, the month’s foreclosure inventory rate tied the prior 16 months as the lowest for any month since January 1999.