PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Warwick metropolitan area house foreclosure inventory and delinquency rates for March 2018 continued a trend of year-over-year decline, according to a CoreLogic report Tuesday.
In the Providence metro, the 30 day or more delinquency rate declined from 5.5 percent to 4.8 percent, while the serious delinquency rate (mortgages 90 says or more past due) decreased from 2.7 percent to 2.1 percent and the foreclosure rate declined from 1.1 percent to 0.8 percent.
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The delinquency and foreclosure rates for all of Rhode Island were the same as the Providence metro, according to the report, however, the foreclosure rate experienced a year-over-year decline larger than the metro area by 0.1 percentage points, having been 2.8 percent in March 2017.
“Unemployment and lack of home equity are two factors that can lead to borrowers defaulting on their mortgages,” Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. “Unemployment is at the lowest level in 18 years, and for the first quarter, the CoreLogic Equity Report revealed record levels of home equity growth with equity per owner up $16,300 on average for the year ending March 2018.”
Nationally, the March 2018 foreclosure rate declined 0.2 percentage points year over year to 0.6 percent: a statistic that indicates a strong economy, according to CoreLogic.
The United States 30 day or more delinquency rates declined 0.1 percentage points year over year to 4.3 percent. The rate for early-stage delinquencies (mortgages 30 to 59 days past due) remained unchanged from March 2017 at 1.7 percent, and the share of mortgages 60 to 89 days past due remained constant at 0.6 percent.
The serious delinquency rate in the U.S. decreased from 2.1 to 1.9 percent, the lowest for March since the 1.5 percent rate in 2007.
“As we enter the summer, the risk of hurricane and wildfire damage to homes increases as does the risk of damage-related loan default,” stated Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Last year’s hurricanes and wildfires continue to affect today’s default rates. Serious delinquency rates are more than double what they were before last autumn’s hurricanes in Houston, Texas, and Naples, Florida. The serious delinquency rates have also quadrupled in Puerto Rico.”
In Massachusetts, the 30 days or more delinquency rate was 3.8 percent in March, a 0.5 percentage point decline year over year. Serious delinquency declined 0.5 percentage points in that time to 1.6 percent and the foreclosure rate decreased from 0.9 percent to 0.6 percent.
The 30 days or more delinquency rate in the U.S. peaked in 2010. The foreclosure rate has reflected year-over-year for more than a year.
Haley Hunt is a PBN contributing writer.
