Mortgage Delinquencies Rate Reaches New High Level

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) recent National Delinquency Survey the overall delinquency rate for mortgages on one-to-four-unit residential properties soared by nearly 4 percentage points (386 basis points) during the second quarter of 2020, and by June 30 reached 8.22% (seasonally adjusted), the highest in nine years. This nearly 4-percentage point jump in the overall delinquency rate was the largest in the history of MBA’s survey going back to 1979. Delinquency rates include mortgages that were already at least one-month delinquent before they entered into a forbearance program. So, these mortgages are still delinquent, and the borrower has stopped making payments before entering into forbearance, but the lender has agreed to not pursue its legal rights for the agreed-upon period of forbearance.  The delinquency rate of FHA mortgages jumped by nearly 6 percentage points (596 basis points), the biggest jump in survey history (since 1979), to a delinquency rate of 15.65%, the highest delinquency rate in survey history. The delinquency rate of VA mortgages jumped by 340 basis points to 8.05%, the highest since Q3 2009. The delinquency rate of conventional mortgages jumped by 352 basis points, to 6.68%, the highest rate since Q2 2012.