LPS' Mortgage Monitor Report: August Data Shows Foreclosure Proceedings Accelerating; Origination/Refinance Activity on the Rise

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The August Mortgage Monitor report released today by Lender Processing Services, Inc. (NYSE: LPS) shows that foreclosure starts continue to accelerate with the GSEs displaying more aggressive timelines on early stage delinquencies. LPS data also shows refinance activity is picking up again as prepayment rates have been steadily increasing over the last two months and new originations hit 2010 highs.

As of August month end, there had been more than 2 million foreclosure starts. While delinquencies during that same time period dropped 5.1 percent as compared to a year ago, in the context of "normal market conditions," delinquencies remain at historically high levels.

Breaking the trend of the last three months, agency foreclosure starts declined slightly in August; however, portfolio foreclosure starts have accelerated. Late stage delinquencies dominate these new foreclosure starts, though overall the percentage of seriously delinquent loans not in foreclosure is improving as compared to the extreme distress seen last year. In January 2009, the percent of seriously delinquent loans that were current six months prior peaked at 2.92 percent; in August 2010 that rate was 1.65 percent.

The report also shows that approximately 1.01 million loans that were current at the beginning of January are at least 60 days delinquent or in foreclosure as of the end of August – a month-over-month increase of 115,000 loans.

As reported in LPS' First Look release, other key results from LPS' latest Mortgage Monitor report include:

About the Mortgage Monitor

LPS manages the nation's leading repository of loan-level residential mortgage data and performance information on nearly 40 million loans across the spectrum of credit products. The company's research experts carefully analyze this data to produce a summary supplemented by dozens of charts and graphs that reflect trend and point-in-time observations for LPS' monthly Mortgage Monitor Report.

To review the full report, listen to a presentation of the report, access an executive summary or view a summary of the disclosures and definitions related to the survey, visit http://www.lpsvcs.com/NEWSROOM/INDUSTRYDATA/Pages/default.aspx.

About Lender Processing Services

Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS) is a leading provider of integrated technology, services and mortgage performance data and analytics, to the mortgage and real estate industries. LPS offers solutions that span the mortgage continuum, including lead generation, origination, servicing, workflow automation (Desktop), portfolio retention and default, augmented by the company's award-winning customer support and professional services. Approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume are serviced using LPS' Mortgage Servicing Package (MSP). LPS also offers proprietary mortgage and real estate data and analytics for the mortgage and capital markets industries. For more information about LPS, visit www.lpsvcs.com.

SOURCE Lender Processing Services, Inc.