While
the
mortgage
delinquency
rate
remains
low

compared
to
pre-pandemic
levels,
the
number
of
delinquent
loans
ticked
up
in
September,
according
to
the


ICE
Mortgage
Monitor
report.

The

national
delinquency
rate
climbed
to
3.29%
in
September,
which
is
up
12
basis
points
from
August
and
up
13
basis
points
from
September
2022.
This
makes
it
the
second
and
largest
annual
increase
in
the
last
2.5
years,
however,
the
delinquency
rate
remains
71
basis
points
below
the
pre-pandemic
level
of
September
2019.

In
September,
serious
delinquencies
(90+
days
past
due)
increased
for
the
first
time
in
2023
with
7,000
additional
borrowers
in
that
category
for
455,000
people
in
total.
However,
the
rate
of
serious
delinquencies
remains
6.7%
below
September
2019
levels.

Meanwhile,
early-stage
delinquencies
(30
and
60
days
past
due)
continued
to
increase.
In
September, 48,800
(+5.1%)
additional
borrowers
were
30-days
late
on
their
mortgage
payments,
while
8,700
(+3%)
were
60-days
late
on
their
mortgage
payments.
These
rates
have
been
going
up
for
the
past
four
months
and
six
months,
respectively.

However,
the
number
of

foreclosures
keeps
falling.
In
September
there
were
only
214,000
loans
in
active
foreclosure,
the
lowest
point
since
March
2022.
In
fact,
both
foreclosure
starts
and
completions
(sales)
respectively
fell
20.4%
and
8%,
according
to
the
report.

The
five
states
with
the
worst
mortgage
performance
were
Mississippi,
Louisiana,
Alabama,
Indiana
and
Pennsylvania.
At
the
other
end
of
the
spectrum,

California,
Idaho,
Montana,
Washington
and
Colorado
were
the
states
which
showed
the
best
mortgage
performance.