LPS' Mortgage Monitor Report Shows March Foreclosure Starts Increasing 33% as Inventories Reach New All-Time High

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The March Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) shows that foreclosure activity picked up during the month. As of the end of March, foreclosure inventory stood at 2.2 million – an all-time high – while foreclosure starts increased by 33 percent since the end of February. Foreclosure sales increased significantly as well, suggesting that the halt in activity due to various moratoria may be passing.

Delinquencies continued to decline in March, dropping by more than 11 percent month-over-month – the lowest level since 2008 – as more delinquent loans either cured or were moved into foreclosure. Delinquencies are down nearly 20 percent since this time last year.

Early-stage delinquencies have led the decline, as fewer problem loans enter the pipeline. In fact, 30-day and 60-day delinquent inventories are now approaching pre-crisis levels. It's important to note the impact of seasonality, as the first quarter of virtually every year shows a drop in new delinquencies, and historically March is consistently the month with the largest declines.

The report also found that mortgage origination activity continues to be dampened, primarily due to ongoing reduction in refinance activity. As interest rates rise and credit requirements remain more exacting, the majority of homeowners eligible to refinance may have already done so.

As reported in LPS' First Look release, other key results from LPS' latest Mortgage Monitor report include:

About the Mortgage Monitor

LPS manages the nation's leading repository of loan-level residential mortgage data and performance information on nearly 40 million loans across the spectrum of credit products. The company's research experts carefully analyze this data to produce a summary supplemented by dozens of charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations for LPS' monthly Mortgage Monitor Report. To review the full report, visit http://www.lpsvcs.com/NEWSROOM/INDUSTRYDATA/Pages/default.aspx.

About Lender Processing Services

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is a leading provider of integrated technology, services and mortgage performance data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries. LPS offers solutions that span the mortgage continuum, including lead generation, origination, servicing, workflow automation (Desktop®), portfolio retention and default, augmented by the company's award-winning customer support and professional services. Approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using LPS' Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP). LPS also offers proprietary mortgage and real estate data and analytics for the mortgage and capital markets industries. For more information about LPS, visit www.lpsvcs.com.

SOURCE Lender Processing Services, Inc.