Mortgage Delinquencies Grow in First Quarter of 2020

According to the Mortgage Banker Associations (MBA) National Delinquency Survey (NDS), the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties increased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.36% of all loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter of 2020. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, the delinquency rate was up 56 basis points, but down 6 basis point from one year ago. The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started in the first quarter fell by 2 basis points to 0.19%. In prepared remarks MBA’s V-P of Industrial Analysis said, “The mortgage delinquency rate in the fourth quarter of 2019 was at its lowest rate since MBA’s survey began in 1979. Fast-forward to the end of March, and it is clear the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting homeowners. Mortgage delinquencies jumped by 59 basis points – which is reminiscent of the hurricane-related, 64-basis-point increase seen in the third quarter of 2017.”