Mortgage Performance Improves Through Fourth Quarter 2015

Summary

Performance of first-lien mortgages improved during the fourth quarter of 2015 compared with a year earlier, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) quarterly report on mortgages.

The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2015, showed 94.1 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, compared with 93.9 percent a quarter earlier.

The report also showed that foreclosure activity has declined steadily since the end of 2013, decreasing 15.9 percent from the end of 2014. Reporting servicers initiated 63,387 new foreclosures during the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with 75,395 a year earlier.

As mortgage performance improves, the need for other loss mitigation actions declines. Servicers implemented 35,118 mortgage modifications in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with 47,561 mortgage modifications in the fourth quarter of 2014. Eighty-seven percent of the modifications reduced borrowers' monthly payments.

The mortgages included in the OCC's quarterly report comprise 41 percent of all residential mortgages outstanding in the United States or approximately 21.5 million loans totaling $3.7 trillion in principal balances. This report provides information on their performance through December 31, 2015.