LPS' April Mortgage Monitor Shows Sharp Jump in FHA Foreclosure Starts; Overall Foreclosure Starts Decreased Slightly

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The April Mortgage Monitor report released by Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS) shows that while overall foreclosure starts were down 2.6 percent in April, FHA foreclosure starts spiked significantly, jumping 73 percent during the month. The rise was driven primarily by defaults in 2008 and 2009 vintage loans, though all FHA vintages saw increases in foreclosure starts in April, despite that fact that the more recent vintages – from 2009 forward – have shown improved relative credit performance.

"In 2008, when the loan origination market virtually dried up, the FHA stepped in to fill the void," explained Herb Blecher, senior vice president for LPS Applied Analytics. "FHA originations tripled that year, and increased to five times historical averages in 2009. High volumes like that, even with low default rates, can produce larger numbers of foreclosure starts. That represents a lot of loans to work through – the 2008 vintage alone represents some $14 billion of unpaid balances in foreclosure, and the overall FHA foreclosure inventory continues to rise."

The April data also showed that foreclosure sales continue to remain low nationally, decreasing 2.6 percent month-over-month, and with volume that remains about one-third that of foreclosure starts. Foreclosure sales in non-judicial states dropped 2.0 percent, and those in judicial states remained basically flat, down just 0.01 percent over the month. Even those states that saw increases in foreclosure sales saw only incremental increases in terms of real numbers, and all were still far below pre-moratoria levels.

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, visit http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/CommunicationCenter/DataReports/Pages/Mortgage-Monitor.aspx

About Lender Processing Services
Lender Processing Services (NYSE: LPS) delivers comprehensive technology solutions and services, as well as powerful data and analytics, to the nation's top mortgage lenders, servicers and investors.  As a proven and trusted partner with deep client relationships, LPS offers the only end-to-end suite of solutions that provides major U.S. banks and many federal government agencies the technology and data needed to support mortgage lending and servicing operations, meet unique regulatory and compliance requirements and mitigate risk.

These integrated solutions support origination, servicing, portfolio retention and default servicing. LPS' servicing solutions include MSP, the industry's leading loan-servicing platform, which is used to service approximately 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages by dollar volume. The company also provides proprietary data and analytics for the mortgage, real estate and capital markets industries.

LPS is headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., and employs approximately 8,000 professionals. The company is ranked on the Fortune 1000 as the 877th largest American company in 2012. For more information, please visit www.lpsvcs.com.

SOURCE Lender Processing Services