The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today released the third quarter 2023 mortgage metrics report, which showed that 97.3% of first-lien mortgages in the federal banking system were current and performing at the end of the quarter. The figure was unchanged from the previous quarter, but mortgage performance improved slightly compared to Q3 2022, when 97.2% of mortgages were current and performing, according to the agency.
The percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages was 1.1% in Q3, the same as the previous quarter and a decrease from 1.3% a year ago, according to the OCC. Servicers initiated 8,965 new foreclosures, an increase from the prior quarter but a decrease from a year earlier. The agency also reported that servicers completed 7,436 modifications, a 13.8% decrease from the previous quarter’s 8,623 modifications. Of the modifications, 85.6% were “combination modifications”—modifications that included multiple actions affecting the affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension.
The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC’s quarterly report comprise 22% of all residential mortgage debt outstanding in the U.S., or approximately 11.8 million loans totaling $2.7 trillion in principal balances.
