Performance of first-lien mortgages improved and foreclosures were down in the second quarter of 2017 compared with the previous year, according to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) quarterly report on mortgages.
The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Second Quarter 2017, showed 95.4 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, compared with 94.7 percent a year earlier.
The report also showed that foreclosure activity has decreased from the previous quarter.
Reporting servicers initiated 35,974 new foreclosures during the second quarter of 2017, a 24.3 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a decrease of 26.2 percent from a year earlier. Servicers implemented 30,523 mortgage modifications in the second quarter of 2017, a 13.1 percent decrease from the prior quarter’s 35,137 modifications. Of these 30,523 modifications, 27,657 (90.6 percent) were “combination modifications”— modifications that included multiple actions affecting affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension.
Further, 83 percent of the modifications reduced borrowers’ monthly payments.
The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC’s quarterly report comprise 34 percent of all residential mortgages outstanding in the United States or approximately 19 million loans totaling $3.36 trillion in principal balances. This report provides information on mortgage performance through June 30, 2017.