Fewer mortgages show delinquency in Utah market

The number of home mortgages that are delinquent in the Salt Lake City market continues to decline, according to figures released by California-based property information and analytics company CoreLogic. In June, the latest date for which information has been compiled, 4.7 percent of mortgages were delinquent in the market compared to 5.4 percent for June last year, Corelogic’s Loan Performance Insights report found. That number includes mortgages that were in foreclosure. Mortgages are considered delinquent if payments are 30 days or more past due.

Mortgages that were seriously delinquent, defined as 90 days or more past due, also dropped in the market. The loans in the serious delinquency category dropped from 2.3 percent to 1.8 percent from June 2016 to June of this year. Loans in foreclosure dropped from 0.6 percent to 0.4 percent for the same period.

Nationally, 4.5 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency in June compared to 5.3 percent in 2016. The nationwide foreclosure rate dropped to 0.7 percent, down from 0.9 percent. The current foreclosure rate is the lowest in 10 years, CoreLogic said.

“The CoreLogic Home Price Index increased 6 percent and payroll employment grew by 2.2 million jobs in the year ending June 2017, supporting further declines in delinquency rates,” said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. “The forecast for the coming year includes 5 percent home-price appreciation and further job growth, putting renewed downward pressure on mortgage delinquency rates.”

Since early-stage delinquencies can be volatile, CoreLogic also analyzes transition rates. The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30-days past due was 0.9 percent in June, unchanged from June 2016. 

Across the 100 most populous metro areas, the foreclosure rate varied from 0.1 percent in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area in Colorado to 2.2 percent in New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area on the East Coast.