Real Estate/News
US mortgage delinquency 3.53% in August; foreclosure inventory adds just 2,000
ICE's August First Look: the 14-point rise is calendar noise by ICE's own reading, but serious delinquencies ended five months of declines.
By Daily Aletheia · Checked against the primary source · 29 September 2026 · 2 min read
Intercontinental Exchange released its August 2026 First Look on 28 September. The national delinquency rate rose 14 basis points to 3.53%, which ICE calls "effectively flat" once July's calendar-driven dip is taken out. It is up 10 basis points on a year ago and still 35 below August 2019.
What the release says
Seriously delinquent loans, 90 days or more past due, rose 11,000 to 574,000. That ends five months of declines and sits 19% above last year, though at 1.04% of active loans it matches the 2017-2019 August average of 1.03%.
Foreclosure starts fell 6% in the month to 37,000 but are up 29% on the year. Foreclosure sales dipped 2% to 7,800, running at 57% of August 2019's pace.
Active foreclosure inventory rose by 2,000 to 298,000, the smallest monthly build since November 2025. It is still up 89,000, or 41%, on the year, and the pre-sale inventory rate held at 0.54%, level with its highest reading since February 2020.
Prepayments fell for a fifth month: single-month mortality dropped 11 basis points to 0.64%, a 17-month low, as rates rose. Loans written in 2023 to 2025 led the slowdown.
By state
Louisiana (8.41%) and Mississippi (8.33%) carry the highest share of loans not current; Idaho is lowest at 2.00%. Hawaii's non-current share rose most over the year, up 31.71%.
"The market isn't moving uniformly," said Bob Hart, President of Mortgage Technology at ICE. The fuller Mortgage Monitor follows later.