Residential Mortgage Delinquency Rate Surpasses 10%: LPS

Home loan delinquency rates in the United States have now surpassed 10 percent, Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported this week.

When you factor in homes already in the foreclosure process, the total rate of noncurrent mortgages sits at 13.3 percent, according to the data in the Florida-based company’s national loan-level database.

This rate indicates that more than 7.2 million mortgage loans are now behind on payments, LPS explained, with another one million properties already taken back by banks and in REO status.

LPS’ January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report, shows that within the population of loans that were current at the end of 2008, the percent of “new” serious delinquencies is 4.64

percent – higher than any other year analyzed. Of loans that were current as of December 31, 2008, by December 2009 there were 2.3 million new loans that were considered seriously delinquent.

Seemingly less-risky, prime mortgages continue to loom large as the industry’s big, pink elephant. Prime loans, including agency, non-agency, and jumbo, have experienced deterioration at a worse pace than subprime, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured mortgages, and all loans as a whole, LPS said. The company’s analysis shows that within the prime loans category, those with unpaid principal balances between $417,000 and $600,000 have performed the worst.

The Mortgage Monitor report also indicates that 2009 vintage loans are performing better than loans from any of the prior five years and have been steadily improving as pools of loans grow larger. This improvement is attributed to more restrictive underwriting guidelines, but that also means “liquidity is still not available where it is needed most,” LPS said.

The company’s analysis shows that states with most noncurrent loans are: Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, Arizona, Georgia, California, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.

Those with the fewest include: North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.