The State of Mortgages: Insights from Black Knight's May 2023 Mortgage Monitor Report

On July 10th 2023, the Data & Analytics division of Black Knight released its latest Mortgage Monitor Report for the month of May, based on the company's mortgage, real estate, and public records data sets. Today on the MDK News Break, we recap the report, with a particular focus on foreclosure starts and delinquencies.

Foreclosure Starts

In May, foreclosure starts rose slightly by 2.2% to 25.4K, but they are still close to April's 6-month low and significantly lower by 41% compared to May 2019, before the pandemic. Foreclosure actions were initiated on 5.1% of serious delinquencies in May, which is only slightly higher than April's rate and more than a full percentage point lower than the rate in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

National Delinquency Rate – First Lien Mortgages

The national delinquency rate decreased by 11 basis points to 3.10% in May, which is close to the previous record low. The number of borrowers who were one payment past due improved by 94K, which is a 9.5% increase and almost half of the previous month's rise.

‍Top 5 States by 90+ Days Delinquent Percentage

Serious delinquencies, defined as loans 90 or more days past due, continued to decrease nationally, with a decrease of 18K (-3.7%) from April. This population of loans has decreased by more than 200K (nearly 30%) since May 2022.

To read Black Knight’s report in full, please click here.