The latest mortgage delinquency statistics show that Hurricane Irma is continuing to disrupt local mortgage repayments this month even though it is almost a year behind us. Both short-term delinquency rates (30 days late) and more serious delinquencies (90 days plus late) are up year on year. Also, after a long run of reduced foreclosure rates, they also have continued trending up over the last few months. We can’t really blame Irma on the short-term delinquencies anymore, but the more serious delinquencies are still up due to the lasting effects of the storm.
Before the hurricane, our market was showing significant year on year downturns in mortgage delinquency rates and foreclosures. The mortgage market looked about as healthy as it could get. Thus, the real estate market looked the same.
Within a month of Irma, we started to see a spike in short term mortgage delinquencies. Several people simply couldn’t pay their mortgages or chose not to do so. That trend has continued ever since, but it is at a slightly lower rate this month. The most recent data shows that there are 22% more people 30 days late on their mortgages than there were last year at the same time. The total is only 4.4%, which isn’t terrible, but it is higher than last year.
As we have seen significant time pass since Irma, longer-term mortgage delinquencies are up as well. We define long-term delinquencies as people who are 90 days or more late on their mortgage payments. The latest data shows that long-term delinquencies are up 52% when compared to last year at this time. Again, the total is relatively low at 2.9%; however, the year on year rise is significant. There was very little change in these statistics from last month.
The long awaited upward trend in foreclosures is also upon us. After foreclosures showing material improvements for several months, they are almost back to where they were pre-Irma. The video below shows the relevant statistics for our area.