The percentage of homeowners who were more than 60 days past due on their mortgage payment has gone down for the 10th straight quarter, dropping nearly 20 percent in the last year alone.
According to a new report from TransUnion, the mortgage delinquency rate is now at 3.46 percent, its lowest level in six years.
Although the rate is improving for all age groups in the U.S., the millennials (adults younger than 30) have the lowest rate (2.34 percent) of delinquency on their home loans. The nation’s youngest homeowners have also experienced the biggest drop in delinquency (28.6 percent) in the past year.
TransUnion noted that the millennials make up just 4.16 percent of all mortgage accounts.
According to TransUnion, the homeowner age groups, percentage of mortgage accounts they represent, and their delinquency rate are:
- Under 30 — 4.16 percent of accounts, 2.34 percent delinquency rate.
- 30-39 — 17.53 percent, 3.91 percent.
- 40-49 — 24.66 percent, 4.43 percent.
- 50-59 — 27.06 percent, 3.46 percent.
- 60 and over — 26.30 percent, 2.58 percent.
Steve Chaouki, head of financial services for TransUnion, said in a press release that a number of factors have contributed to the improvements in the mortgage delinquency rate. He said:
These include the clearing of severely delinquent accounts through foreclosure as well as a lower rate of new delinquencies from post-recession vintages, which generally are of significantly higher credit quality and have experienced much better performance than mortgages originated before the recession. This dynamic is likely driving the low delinquencies among younger borrowers. It is encouraging to see younger borrowers perform well, since their generation was significantly impacted by the recession and their loans are among the newest.
The report also says that mortgage originations dropped 51.1 percent, from 2.2 million in the first quarter of 2013 to 1.1 million in the first quarter of this year.
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