Mortgage delinquency rate up slightly, but is it cause for concern?

investmentnews.com:

American homeowners with a mortgage are continuing to meet their monthly payments. But an increasing share are not.

New data from CoreLogic shows that 2.8% of U.S. mortgages were at some stage of delinquency in March, up slightly from a year earlier and unchanged from the previous month. This was seen across 48 states and more than 80% of tracked U.S. metro areas saw serious delinquency rates rise on an annual basis in March, ranging from 1.6% to 0.1%.

“The U.S. delinquency rate increased from a year earlier in March, driven by an uptick in early-stage delinquencies,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist for CoreLogic. “Further, the early-stage delinquency rate remained flat from February to March this year, while it typically falls between those months, as many borrowers receive income tax refunds in March. While monthly changes in the early-stage delinquency rate can be volatile, this break from the seasonal trend comes at a time when household budgets are strained by still-high inflation.”

Here’s how the rates looked in March 2024:

The overall rate remains near historic lows, even with the year-over-year rise, and the nationwide foreclosure rate is also low at 0.3%, the 25^th month at this level. With this signal that mortgage performance remains strong and the low unemployment rate, CoreLogic is not expecting a significant rise in borrowers unable to pay their monthly payments in the coming months.