DS News

36 HURRICANE IMPACTS LINGER ON Mortgage delinquencies hit a 23-month high as 2017 wrapped up, surging by 164,000 year-over-year, according to the latest Mortgage Monitor Report from the Data and Analytics Division of Black Knight, Inc. However, that figure only tells part of the story. Outside of hurricane-affected areas, Black Knight reports that the national mortgage delinquency rate was 11 percent below long- term norms. In these same areas, the total number of past-due or in-foreclosure homes dropped by more than 140,000 as December 2017 wrapped up. "Hurricanes Harvey and Irma significantly impacted 2017 mortgage performance metrics," said Black Knight Data and Analytics EVP Ben Graboske. "[However] when Black Knight isolated non-hurricane-impacted areas—which represent 90 percent of the entire active U.S. mortgage universe—we see the national delinquency rate actually fell to 11 percent below long-term norms. … Due to the various foreclosure moratoria put into place after the storms, there was no hurricane impact to speak of in that regard. In fact, the improvement in foreclosure inventory— which continued unabated in 2017—may have actually received a short-term boost from the moratoria." Last year also saw the fewest foreclosure starts nationwide of any year since 2000, with the annual total sitting at 649,000. e year also saw first-time foreclosure starts drop to 15 percent below the 2016 totals, putting them around half of the average before the housing crisis. Total foreclosure sales for 2017 hit 232,000, the lowest single-year total since the turn of the century, according to Black Knight. However, there are still more than 125,000 active foreclosures that haven't received a payment for more than two years. If you ramp that timeline up to five years or more, the total drops to 63,000. e total U.S. loan delinquency rate as of December 2017 was 4.71 percent, and the month-over-month change in delinquency rate was 3.47 percent. e overall U.S. foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate for the month was 0.65 percent, and the month-over-month change in such was -2.22 percent. HOME VALUES HIT A LOW IN SUBURBS Over the past several years, many homebuyers have traded big-city living for an abode in the 'burbs. But flash ahead to now, and those same folks may be kicking themselves, at least if they take a look at Zillow's recent research, which indicates dwellings in suburban locales are less valuable on a per-square-foot basis today than they were a decade ago. According to the report, which gives an analysis of home values in urban, suburban, and rural zones, as of December 2017, the median U.S. suburban home was worth $138 per square foot. Houses in urban markets boast a median value of $315,988, up 8.8 percent from last year. Homes sited in the suburbs, on the other hand, are valued at $234,443 (ahead six percent year-over-year) and $157,451 in rural spots (up 5.5 percent from December 206). While per-square-foot values for both urban and rural homes ($231 and $102 per square foot, respectively) have exceeded their pre-recession highs and are currently at new peaks, the current value for suburban homes stands below its prior peak of $140, from October 2006, the report noted. e 127.1 percent disparity between urban and rural housing is now as broad as it has ever been, even outstripping the chasm in existence 10 years ago ahead of the Great Recession, the analysis notes. It represents the most significant difference since at least January 1996 and tops the 124.1 percent gap last felt in October 2006, months before the housing market crested before the housing bust. In parsing the numbers, it's a matter of how well (or not) different areas of the country have rebounded since that bust, the report indicates. Numerous urban markets benefited from big businesses setting up shop in their ZIP codes, it adds. e report noted that the data provides another illustration of the deep and lasting scars of the recession, as well as how different market segments have fared in the years since then. Many cities have experienced tremendous growth in recent years as high- paying jobs in tech, healthcare, finance, and other booming industries increasingly located in dense urban cores, while other areas have not bounced back.

• Cover