LPS' May Mortgage Monitor: National Foreclosure Inventory Remains Near All-Time High; Delinquency Rate Stabilizes After Seasonal Drop

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The May Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS) shows that the nation's foreclosure inventory remains near all-time highs, with 4.12 percent of all active mortgages in the foreclosure pipeline in addition to the 3.2 percent that are 90 days or more delinquent but have not yet begun the foreclosure process. According to LPS Applied Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher, the situation is more nuanced when looking at the breakdown between states that apply judicial versus non-judicial foreclosure processes.

"There's a stark contrast in foreclosure inventories between judicial and non-judicial states," Blecher explained. "In the former, 6.5 percent of all loans are in some stage of foreclosure – that's more than 2.5 times the rate in non-judicial states where only 2.5 percent of loans are currently in the foreclosure pipeline. Both these figures are significantly higher than the pre-crisis average of 0.5 percent, but it is worth noting that the average year-over-year decline in non-current loans for judicial states is less than one percent, whereas in non-judicial states, it's down 7.1 percent."

The difference between judicial and non-judicial states impacts the length of time loans remain in the foreclosure pipeline as well; the percent of aged foreclosure inventory has increased notably in judicial states. Approximately 53 percent of loans in foreclosure in states that follow a judicial foreclosure process have been delinquent for more than two years, as compared to just over 30 percent of loans in non-judicial states.

Nationwide, foreclosure sales – which mark the end of the foreclosure process – were up 10 percent in May with the increase more pronounced in non-judicial states. In those states, 6.46 percent of the existing foreclosure inventory progressed to foreclosure sale in May, as compared to just 2.14 percent of the inventory in judicial states.

The May data also shows that after a sharp seasonal decline, delinquencies stabilized, up just 1.1 percent for the month to 7.2 percent, but still down almost 12 percent year to date. In addition, new problem loan rates continue to improve, with rates dropping for the eighth consecutive month – reaching a point (1.06 percent) not seen since July 2007, and well off their January 2009 peak of 2.92 percent. Finally, foreclosure starts were up for the month, rising 11.6 percent from April, though still low by historical standards and more than 40 percent off their September 2010 peak.

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/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/Pages/Mortgage-Monitor.aspx

About Lender Processing Services
Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS) delivers comprehensive technology solutions and services, as well as powerful data and analytics, to the nation's top mortgage lenders, servicers and investors.  As a proven and trusted partner with deep client relationships, LPS offers the only end-to-end suite of solutions that provides major U.S. banks and many federal government agencies the technology and data needed to support mortgage lending and servicing operations, meet unique regulatory and compliance requirements and mitigate risk.

These integrated solutions support origination, servicing, portfolio retention and default servicing. LPS' servicing solutions include MSP, the industry's leading loan-servicing platform, which is used to service approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume. The company also provides proprietary data and analytics for the mortgage, real estate and capital markets industries.

LPS is headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., and employs approximately 8,000 professionals. The company is ranked on the Fortune 1000 as the 877th largest American company in 2012. For more information, please visit www.lpsvcs.com.

SOURCE Lender Processing Services