At the end of August, Lender Processing Services (LPS) reported that mortgages on 4,947,000 properties nationwide were at least 30 days past due but NOT in foreclosure. Of those, 2,374,000 were 90 or more days delinquent. The good news is that the delinquency rate of loans that are 30 days or more past due have declined one percent since last month and 5.1 percent since this time last year.
Even with the high number of delinquencies, the number of bank-owned properties has fallen steadily over the past year. There are several possible reasons for the lack of bank-owned properties even with the near record-high delinquency rates. First, a portion of the delinquent loans ends up being permanently modified. Second, banks are approving short sales with greater regularity even though the short sale process is still filled with frustration and confusion. Lastly, when foreclosures do occur, more investors are buying properties at foreclosure sales preventing these properties from ending up as REO.
Currently, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac make up a large majority of foreclosure listings. Fannie and Freddie have already taken back nearly as many homes in the first half of the year as they did all of last year. As of June 2010, they owned more than 191,000 homes which is nearly double the total from 2009.
Joshua D. Carlson, Esq.
