AUSTIN – According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, Texas mortgage delinquency rates declined during first quarter 2021.
In 1Q2020, there was a jump in the delinquency rates for mortgages between 30 and 89 days past due because of the number of mortgages in forbearance. Since then, delinquency improved in that category, reaching pre-pandemic levels
“Both the delinquency rates for mortgages 90 days past due and the seriously delinquent mortgages (including mortgages in forbearance) seemed to have a reached a peak at the end of 2020 and fell at the start of 2021,” said Dr. Luis Torres, research economist at the Texas Real Estate Research Center.
Both the rates of foreclosures started and inventory continued to fall during the first quarter, reaching levels not recorded since the late 1970s and early ’80s.
In 1Q2021, 252,419 mortgages were past due, with 13,202 being over 90 days past due. Compared with the number of new listings, active listings, and pending listings up to April 2021, those represent 33.6, 29.5, and 39.3 percent, respectively, in a market with 1.3 months of inventory.
The counting of forbearances as late payments conflicts with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which mandated services to report pandemic-related forbearances as being “current” to the nation’s credit bureaus. The law, however, did not preclude servicers from notifying credit bureaus that a loan is in forbearance, and it did not cover how industry statistics would be reported.
All data points are seasonally adjusted.
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