The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today released the fourth quarter 2023 mortgage metrics report, which showed that 97.2% of first-lien mortgages in the federal banking system were current and performing at the end of the quarter. The figure was down slightly from 97.3% during the previous quarter, but mortgage performance improved slightly compared to Q4 2022, when 97.1% of mortgages were current and performing, according to the agency.
The percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages was 1.2% in Q4, a slight increase from 1.1% the previous quarter and a decrease from 1.3% a year ago, according to the OCC. Servicers initiated 8,320 new foreclosures, a decrease from the prior quarter and a year earlier. The agency also reported that servicers completed 7,382 modifications, a 0.7% decrease from the previous quarter’s 7,436 modifications. Of the modifications, 86.9% 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 22.2% of all residential mortgage debt outstanding in the U.S., or approximately 11.7 million loans totaling $2.9 trillion in principal balances.