Mortgage delinquencies increased 10 percent in June, according to a monthly report on mortgage delinquencies issued by real estate data and analytics provider Lender Processing Services, with approximately 700,000 new 30-day delinquent loans reported in June. The increase reverses five consecutive months of declines. 

LPS Applied Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher cautioned that the spike, while large, should be seen in the proper context.
 
"June’s increase in delinquencies is representative of a documented seasonal phenomenon," Blecher said in a statement. "Over the last 18 years, similar changes occurred in June for all but four of those years…we examined the data to see the effect of recent increases in interest rates on delinquency rates and found no significant impact thus far. Adjustable-rate mortgages, which one would expect to be impacted most by such interest rate changes, actually saw delinquency rates rise at a lower relative rate than those of fixed-rate mortgages.” 

According to LPS’s records, since 1995, delinquency rates have risen from Q1 to Q2 in all but two years, with an average 7 percent increase. The 2013 Q1 to Q2 increase was 1.34 percent. 

LPS’s report also suggests that recent rate increases have chopped down the number of loans eligible for refinancing. Approximately 12 percent of active loans, about 5.9 million, fit broad-based refinanceable criteria, down from 8.9 million in March of 2013 when rates were at historic lows, according to LPS. 

According to LPS’s report, 6.7 percent of U.S. loans were delinquent in June, while 2.9 percent of loans were in foreclosure. The amount of U.S. foreclosure inventory dropped 3.9 percent in June.