Prepayment Rate Hits Highest Level in Three Years

The June Brexit vote continues to have implications for the mortgage industry, as prepayment rates jumped even higher.

Black Knight Financial Services reported in its "first look" data release that the monthly prepayment rate skyrocketed to 1.67% in August, 31.7% higher than last month and 52.3% higher than a year ago. The rate, which is a strong indicator of refinance activity, was the highest it has been in more than three years.

Additionally, the delinquency rate settled from its July spike, dropping 6% from then and 11.4% from a year ago to 4.24%. That equates to 2.15 million properties or a decrease of 135,000 properties from the previous month.

On the foreclosure side, the inventory rate continued its downward trajectory even as foreclosure starts ticked upward month-over-month. The total presale foreclosure inventory rate was 1.04%, which signifies a decrease of 4.3% from July and 29.9% from August 2015. And there were 68,800 foreclosure starts for the month, which is a 12.2% increase from July but as a 9.7% dip from last year.

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Servicing Mortgage defaults Foreclosures Refinance
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