The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate declined in May, according to the Home Price Index report from CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider.
Nationally, 3.6% of mortgages remained in some stage of delinquency, meaning 30 days or more past due, including homes in foreclosure. That's down from 4.2% in May 2018.
The foreclosure inventory rate, which measures the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, decreased 0.1 percentage points from last year’s rate to 0.4% in May of this year. This May’s foreclosure inventory rate tied the prior six months as the lowest for any month since at least January 1999.
The rate of early-stage delinquencies, those 30 to 59 days past due, fell 1.8% percentage points from May 2018 to 1.7% this May.
CoreLogic Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said growth in family income and home prices continues to support low delinquency rates.
“Communities that experienced a rise in delinquencies are generally those that also suffered from natural disasters,” Nothaft said. “Last year’s hurricanes and wildfires, and this spring’s severe flooding from heavy rainstorms and snowmelt have pushed delinquency rates higher in these impacted communities.”
Although the nation's overall delinquency rate has fallen on an annual basis for 17 consecutive months, 20 of the country’s metropolitan areas posted at least a small annual increase in overall delinquency this May, according to the report.
CoreLogic indicates the highest gains occurred in the Midwest and parts of the Southeast, led by Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, states severely impacted by flooding this spring.
“While the rest of the country experienced record-low mortgage delinquency rates again in May, the Midwest and parts of the Southeast are still experiencing higher rates as they recover from extreme weather,” CoreLogic President and CEO Frank Martell said. “Areas in Kentucky and Ohio, which were hit particularly hard this spring with historic flooding, experienced some of the largest annual gains in the country.”
