Mortgage Turnover up 121 Percent; New Home Sales Up Big Year-over-Year; Rates Fall, But There’s a Catch

Mortgage Turnover up 121 Percent; New Home Sales Up Big Year-over-Year; Rates Fall, But There’s a Catch

Homeowners continued to reduce and/or retire their mortgage debt at an accelerated clip in September according to Black Knight's "first look" at the month's loan performance data. The single month mortality (SMM) rate, an indication of early mortgage payoffs, rose 3.24 percent from August and was up 121 percent compared to September 2018 . Low mortgage rates kept the SMM rate elevated despite a seasonal slowdown in payoffs due to home sales. The delinquency rate ticked up 2.13 percent to a national rate of 3.53 percent in September. The rate, indicating loans that were at least one payment past due but not in foreclosure, was down 11.15 percent year-over-year, the largest annual decline in eight months . There were 1.854 million loans in that category at the end of the reporting period. Seriously