Mortgage delinquency rates nationally are at their lowest point since the financial crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reported Monday, as it announced a new “mortgage performance trends” tool which follows delinquency rates nationwide.
The consumer bureau said the data collected show the national rate of “seriously delinquent mortgages” (those that are more than 90 days overdue) peaked at 4.9% in 2010. As of March 2017, the rate had fallen to 1.1%, the agency said, noting that is the lowest level since 2008.
Colorado and Alaska have the fewest serious delinquencies, with 0.5%; New Jersey and Mississippi have the highest rates of serious delinquencies, with 2.1%, according to CFPB.
For mortgages that are delinquent by less than 90 days, Mississippi has the highest rate, at 4.3%; Washington State has the lowest rate, at 1%.
CFPB said its aim in developing the tool was to measure the health of mortgage markets locally and nationally. “This rich information source identifies mortgage delinquency rates down to the county and metro-area level, making it a useful public tool,” bureau Director Richard Cordray said in a statement.
The agency said that tracking loan delinquencies of less than 90 days can detect trends in the increase or decrease in the number of delinquencies, and act as an “early warning sign” for mortgage market developments that impact the overall economy. The agency said the “serious delinquencies” category, if high, reflects more severe economic distress.
The bureau said that most states hardest hit by the housing crisis of 2007-10 have steadily recovered. “At the peak of the financial crisis, both California and Arizona had rates of serious delinquencies of 7.5% and 7.6%, respectively, and both are now below 1%,” the agency said in a release. “Nevada, which peaked at 10.7%, now has a serious delinquency rate of 1.2%, nearly the same as the national average. Florida, which peaked at 9.0%, now has a rate of 1.4%.”
Information in the Mortgage Performance Trends tool comes from the National Mortgage Database, which the CFPB and the Federal Housing Finance Agency launched in 2012.