In the first quarter of 2022, Florida ranked almost exactly in the middle of the pack in three key categories of the national homeowner economy: delinquent mortgages, total non-current mortgages, and foreclosure rates, according to a report issued by Jacksonville-based Black Knight Data & Analytics, Inc., a mortgage and loan data broker.
Nationally, the delinquency rate fell in May to a low of 2.75 percent, while Florida stayed slightly higher at 2.9 percent. Delinquencies are defined as any loan with overdue payments of 30, 60 or 90 days, but do not include loans in foreclosure. Year-over-year, Florida’s non-current mortgage rate fell by 43.9 percent, an improvement good enough to rank 6th in the nation over last year, when families were struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic.
Despite the negative impact of inflation on the national economy, there has not been a noticeable uptick in homeowners struggling to make payments. As of May, early-stage delinquencies – that is, borrowers who have missed just a single mortgage payment – have edged only marginally higher (+0.2%) month over month, but serious delinquencies (those 90 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure) saw strong improvement – falling 7% from April – even though the total number of those loans is still 45 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
Florida foreclosures, at 0.4 percent of all loans, are in line with the national average at 0.3 percent.
Black Knight’s report also said that despite the volatility in interest rates, homeowners across the nation are currently sitting on a $1.2 trillion gain in “tappable equity” since the start of 2022.
“That’s the largest such quarterly growth ever recorded,” said Black Knight President Ben Graboske. “In total, American mortgage holders have more than $11 trillion in tappable equity, also a history-making total.”
One major contributing factor to the recent spike in home prices and the decline of affordability is a record-low number of homes listed for sale. Black Knight’s report says that despite a rise of 27,500 new listings on the real estate market from March to April, “the total number of active listings remains 67% below pre-pandemic levels, with 820,000 fewer listings than would be typical at this point in most homebuying seasons.” Black Knight’s data suggests that the number of homes hitting the market remains well below what would be considered “normal” levels.
View the full report from Black Knight here.