Late payments on mortgages inched up by 1.76% on a consecutive-month basis in February to more than 1.78 million, marking the first time since May of last year that delinquencies have increased, Black Knight found.
Overall delinquencies, excluding foreclosures and including
The slight increase in new late payments may have stemmed from
Higher rates have made it more difficult for existing borrowers to lower their costs and have increased financing expenses for home purchases, but economic strength could sustain lending if
Reduced
The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s fourth-quarter report on foreclosure prevention and refinancing, which also was released Wednesday, recorded similar trends.
The refinancing of loans sold to government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac inched down on a consecutive-quarter basis to roughly 1.27 million from 1.29 million. During the same time period, payments that were late by 30 to 59 days rose 231,650 from 218,294, and serious delinquencies more than 90 days late fell to 364,294 from 469,650.
Fannie and Freddie loans, which represent one of the largest segments of the mortgage market, tend to have relatively low delinquency rates. The GSEs’ serious delinquency rate in the fourth quarter was 1.19%, down from 1.55% in the previous fiscal period. Their delinquency rate for loans overdue by 30 to 59 days was just 0.76%, up slightly from 0.73% the previous quarter.
In line with
Deferrals, in which payments suspended for pandemic-related hardships are pushed to the end of the loan and borrowers resume normal monthly obligations, remained the most common home retention action at Fannie and Freddie in the fourth quarter. More than 100,000 deferrals were recorded during the fiscal period, compared to 31,891 forbearance plans, 16,913 modifications and 1,859 repayment plans.