Loan Performance Insights Report Highlights: February 2022
- The nation’s overall delinquency rate was 3.2% in February.
- All U.S. states and metro areas posted year-over-year decreases in delinquencies.
In February 2022, 3.2% of home mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure)[1], which was a 2.5-percentage point decrease from February 2021, according to the latest CoreLogic Loan Performance Insights Report. This is the lowest recorded overall delinquency rate in the U.S. since at least January 1999.
Overall Delinquency Rates
The share of mortgages in early-stage delinquencies — 30 to 59 days past due — was 1.3% in February 2022, down from 1.5% in February 2021. The share of mortgages 60 to 89 days past due was 0.3% in February 2022, down from 0.5% in February 2021.
The serious delinquency rate — defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure — was 1.6% in February, down from 3.7% in February 2021. The foreclosure rate declined to 0.2% from 0.3% February 2021, where it has been since June 2021.
Figure 1: Current- to 30-Day Transition Rate Shows Sharp Decrease From One Year Ago
February 2022
Stage of Delinquency: Rate of Transition
In addition to delinquency rates, CoreLogic tracks the rate at which mortgages transition from one stage of delinquency to the next, such as going from current to 30 days past due (Figure 1).
The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due was 0.8% in February 2022, down from 0.9% in February 2021. Low transition rates indicate that fewer borrowers slipped into delinquency than at the peak of delinquency rates in 2020.
Figure 2: States With the Highest and Lowest Rate of Mortgages At Least 30 Days Past Due
February 2022
State and Metro Level Delinquencies
All states posted annual decreases in their overall delinquency rates in February 2022 as the employment picture continued to improve across the country compared to a year earlier. Figure 2 shows the states with the highest and lowest share of mortgages 30 days or more delinquent. In February 2022, that rate was highest in Louisiana at 5.8% and lowest in Idaho at 1.6%. Idaho has had one of the strongest job recoveries in the U.S., and Louisiana has had one of the weakest. As of February 2022, Idaho had recovered all the jobs lost in March and April 2020 while Louisiana had only recovered 69% of jobs lost.
Figure 3: Percentage of Mortgages At Least 30 Days Past Due For the 10 Largest Metropolitan Areas
February 2022
Figure 3 shows the 30-plus-day past-due rate for February 2022 for 10 large metropolitan areas.[2] Houston had the highest rate at 4.4%, and San Francisco had the lowest rate at 1.7%. Miami’s rate decreased 4.9 percentage points from a year earlier. Outside of the largest 10, all metros recorded a decrease in the overall delinquency rate. Nevertheless, elevated overall delinquency rates remain in some metros, including Pine Bluff, Arkansas (9.2%); Vineland-Bridgeton, New Jersey (8.3%) and Odessa, Texas (8.1%).
The nation’s overall mortgage delinquency rate fell to a historic low in February, marking the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year declines. Home price growth continued to intensify as this year’s traditionally busy spring real estate season began, with prices rising by almost 21% since March 2021. However, national appreciation is expected to cool to around 6% by March 2023, which could cause equity gains to slow for homeowners in some areas of the country, providing less protection from mortgage defaults for those who fall behind on their payments.
© 2022 CoreLogic, Inc. All rights reserved.
[1] Data in this report is provided by TrueStandings Servicing. https://www.corelogic.com/products/truestandings-servicing.aspx. The CARES Act provided forbearance for borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were economically impacted by the pandemic. Borrowers in a forbearance program who have missed a mortgage payment are included in the CoreLogic delinquency statistics, even if the loan servicer has not reported the loan as delinquent to credit repositories.
[2] Metropolitan areas used in this report are the 10 most populous Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The report uses Metropolitan Divisions where available.
