A significant uptick in seriously delinquent mortgages is brewing in areas that were struck by Hurricanes
Harvey and
Irma in the fall of 2017, Black Knight reports. Coastal areas within Florida and Texas that faced the wrath of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are seeing a dramatic increase in 90-day-plus delinquencies.
An estimated 40,200 loans that are 90 or more days delinquent are being blamed on Hurricane Harvey, which struck the Gulf Coast of Texas in August 2017, while 102,500 delinquencies are being blamed on Hurricane Irma, which struck nearly the entire state of Florida and the eastern part of Georgia in September.
Florida now has the largest share of severely delinquent loans in the country at 4.14 percent, according to Black Knight’s data analysis.
Nationwide, shorter-term delinquencies moved higher in December. More than 2.4 million properties were 30 or more days past due on their mortgage, but not yet in foreclosure. This was 164,000 more than a year earlier. The delinquency rate is now 4.71 percent, the highest since early 2016.
Despite the uptick in delinquencies, foreclosure starts reached a post-recession low in December at 44,500. Also, the foreclosure inventory posted a 32 percent decline.
Source: “Hurricane Stricken States Now Seriously Delinquent,” Mortgage News Daily (Jan. 23, 2018)
