Nationally, 5.3 percent of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure) in December 2017, according to CoreLogic, a global property information provider. This represents no change in the overall delinquency rate compared with December 2016, when it was also 5.3 percent.

The foreclosure inventory rate, which measures the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process, was 0.6 percent as of December 2017, down 0.2 percentage points from 0.8 percent in December 2016. The foreclosure inventory rate has been steady at 0.6 percent since August 2017, the lowest level since June 2007, when it was also 0.6 percent.

In Massachusetts, the number of mortgages that were 30 or more days delinquent dropped from 5 percent in December 2016 to 4.6 percent in December 2017. The foreclosure rate in December 2017 was 0.6 percent.

The rate for early-stage delinquencies – defined as 30 to 59 days past due – was 2.3 percent in December 2017, up 0.1 percentage points from 2.2 percent in both November 2017 and December 2016. The share of mortgages that were 60-89 days past due in December 2017 was 0.8 percent, down from 0.9 percent in November 2017 and up from 0.7 percent in December 2016. The serious delinquency rate – defined as 90 days or more past due, including loans in foreclosure – was 2.1 percent in December 2017, up from 2 percent in November 2016 and down from 2.3 percent in December 2016. The December 2017 serious delinquency rate was the lowest for the month of December since December 2006, when it was 1.5 percent.

“The wildfires in Sonoma and Napa counties began October 8 and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes. Two- and three-month delinquency rates have spiked in these two counties, more than doubling between October and December,” Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, said in a statement. “The after effects of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria continue to appear as well. Serious delinquency rates in the Houston and Miami metropolitan areas doubled between September and year-end and quadrupled in the San Juan area of Puerto Rico.”

Since early-stage delinquencies can be volatile, CoreLogic also analyzes transition rates. The share of mortgages that transitioned from current to 30 days past due was 1.1 percent in December 2017, up from 1 percent in both November 2017 and December 2016. This was the highest rate for a December, as it was 1.2 percent in December 2013. By comparison, in January 2007, just before the start of the financial crisis, the current- to 30-day transition rate was 1.2 percent, while it peaked in November 2008 at 2 percent.

“The effect of the wildfires and hurricanes on delinquency transition rates was all too clear in our latest analysis,” Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement. “In Sonoma and Napa counties, both 30- to 60-day and 60- to 90-day delinquent transition rates in December were more than double what they had averaged the prior year. Likewise, neighborhoods affected by hurricanes have seen a jump in transition rates in the months immediately following. These natural disasters have stalled or reversed the decline in 30- to 119-day delinquency rates that we had seen previously.”