patrick.net

According to data released by TransUnion on Wednesday, the national mortgage delinquency rate — the percent of mortgages that are 60 days or more behind payment schedule — is forecast at 3.12%, down from its peak of 6.93% in the first quarter of 2010.

Steve Chaouki, head of financial services for TransUnion, says that this trend toward declining mortgage delinquencies will likely continue, especially if interest rates remain low, unemployment rates continue their decline and foreclosures keep clearing the market. Indeed, by the fourth quarter of next year, TransUnion predicts that the mortgage delinquency rate will hit 2.51% — the lowest level since the start of the recession in the third quarter of 2007.

Even so, historical norms for mortgage delinquencies are around 1 ½% to 2%, he says — so we’re not at normal levels yet, and likely won’t be for a couple years. What’s more, the mortgage delinquency rates in some states are significantly higher than others. New Jersey, Florida and New York have the highest levels of mortgage delinquencies, thanks in part to the fact that they were hit hard by the mortgage crisis and put rules in place that slowed the movement of foreclosures through the system.

Meanwhile, the mortgage delinquency rates in many Midwestern states like North Dakota and South Dakota are very low — partially because they didn’t have as extreme a boom-and-bust mortgage cycle as many other states did.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/residents-in-these-states-cant-pay-their-mortgages-2014-12-10

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