Freddie Mac reported Friday that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate declined in July to 1.48 per cent, down from 1.53 per cent in June. Freddie’s rate is down from 2.02 per cent in July 2014, and the rate in July was the lowest level since October 2008. Freddie’s serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 4.20 per cent.
Mortgage Deliquency, US
Although the US deliquency rate is declining, the “normal” serious delinquency rate is under 1 per cent.
The serious delinquency rate has fallen 0.54 percentage points over the last year, and at that rate of improvement, the serious delinquency rate will not be below 1 per cent until mid-2016.
So even though delinquencies and distressed sales are declining, I expect an above normal level of Fannie and Freddie distressed sales through 2016 (mostly in judicial foreclosure states).