Foreclosure starts in January rose to their highest level in 13 months, even as the national mortgage delinquency continued to fall, according to data from Black Knight Financial Services.
Total foreclosure starts increased 5.5% from December to 94,300, a 0.2% increase from the year prior, Jacksonville, Fla.-based Black Knight said in its “first look” monthly mortgage data report.
Within the same period, however, the national delinquency rate fell to 5.56% in January, a 1.41% drop from December and a more than 11% dip from January 2014.
The mortgage analytics firm found that more than 2.8 million properties were 30 or more days delinquent, but not in foreclosure, a decrease of 327,000 from the same period in 2014. The number of properties 90 or more days past due also decreased year-over-year, this time by 177,000 properties to more than 1.1 million.
Additionally, the foreclosure presale inventory declined on both a month-to-month and year-over-year basis. The figure stood at 815,000 in January, down 5,000 from December and 360,000 from the year prior.
Mississippi continued to lead the country in terms of its having the highest number of properties and delinquencies as a percentage of all active loans, with 14.19%. New Jersey, Louisiana, New York and Maine also featured in the top five.
On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota had the lowest noncurrent percentage at 2.42%, followed by Colorado, South Dakota, Alaska and Montana.
Oregon and Florida also made moves by experiencing the strongest improvement in the percent of active loans that foreclosures and delinquencies comprised, decreasing 10.28% and 10.05%, respectively.
