CoreLogic reported on Tuesday that the national mortgage delinquency rate in June was again the lowest in nearly a decade.  The company's Loan Performance Insights Report for the month shows 4.5 percent of outstanding mortgages were in some stage of delinquency, that is 30 or more days past due or in foreclosure.  This is an 0.8 percentage point decline since June 2016 when the rate was 5.3 percent.

The rate for early-stage delinquencies, defined as 30-59 days past due, was 2.0 percent in June 2017, down from 2.1 percent in June 2016. The share of mortgages that were 60-89 days past due in June 2017 was 0.6 percent, also down slightly from 0.7 percent in June 2016. 

CoreLogic notes that early-stage delinquencies can be volatile so it also looks at transition rates.  The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30-days past due was 0.9 percent in June 2017, unchanged from the previous year.  As a reference point, in January 2007, just before the start of the financial crisis, the current-to-30-day transition rate was 1.2 percent and it peaked in November 2008 at 2 percent.

"The CoreLogic Home Price Index increased 6 percent and payroll employment grew by 2.2 million jobs in the year ending June 2017, supporting further declines in delinquency rates," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic. "The forecast for the coming year includes 5 percent home-price appreciation and further job growth, putting renewed downward pressure on mortgage delinquency rates."

"After peaking at 3.6 percent in December 2010, June's 0.7 percent foreclosure rate was the lowest in 10 years," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "Across the 100 most populous metro areas, the foreclosure rate varied from 0.1 percent in Denver-Aurora-Lakewood to 2.2 percent in New York-Newark-Jersey City."