- Foreclosure starts rose sharply in January as borrower protections in place throughout the economic recovery begin to roll off, with 32,900 loans referred to foreclosure in the month
- While up significantly from December's 4,100, January's start volume was still more than 20% below the 42,800 in January 2020, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
- Roughly half of the month's starts were among borrowers who were already delinquent prior to the economic impacts of COVID-19, and half from borrowers who became past due in March 2020 or later
- In turn, the national foreclosure rate rose to its highest level since May 2021 (0.28%) - still nearly 40% below its pre-pandemic level, with foreclosure sales (completions) 70% below January 2020 levels
- At the same time, the national delinquency rate continued to improve, and the number of seriously past due mortgages fell by 87,000 (-9%) as borrowers leaving forbearance plans returned to making payments
- A backlog of post-forbearance loans in active loss mitigation - plus another 379,000 that have finished loss mitigation but remain past due - calls for a close watch on foreclosure metrics in coming months
- Prepayment activity hit a more than two-year low, falling by 24% from the month prior as rising rates continue to put sharp downward pressure on refinance incentive
PR Newswire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 24, 2022
