Report: Late mortgage payments spiking in some areas, but not Sarasota-Manatee, or Florida
The Sarasota-Manatee metro area had the lowest mortgage delinquency rate in Florida and the 13th lowest in the country, according to a new report using data from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Construction Coverage analyzed data from the bureau's mortgage performance trends and said just 0.8% of mortgaged properties in Sarasota were late on a payment with seriously delinquent — 90 days or more — mortgages accounting for just 0.2% of properties in the two-county area.
That sets the Sarasota metro area at the top of the state, just ahead of the Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island metro in Florida for the lowest rate of delinquent mortgages by metro area. Naples also had a 0.8% 30-day delinquency rate with 0.3% delinquent for more than 90 days, according to the report.
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville was third in Florida with a 30-day delinquency rate of 0.9% and Punta Gorda ranked fourth, also with a 0.9% delinquency rate. Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford and Cape Coral-Fort Myers both had a 30-day delinquency rate of 1.2%.
Jacksonville, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Lakeland-Winter Haven all had 1.6% mortgage delinquency rates tied for the highest in Florida. All Florida metro areas beat the national average.
Sarasota's delinquency rate is less than half of both the national delinquency rate of 1.9% and the national seriously delinquent rate of 0.5%.
The report points out that the national delinquency rate has started to rise after falling to historic lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that pandemic era relief programs are no longer in play.
"Over the course of 2020 and 2021, while COVID-era financial assistance programs were in effect, serious mortgage delinquencies experienced a 75% drop from their pre-pandemic rate," the report stated.
While the national rates remain low, there has been some uptick in the delinquency rate in some regions, particularly in pockets of the South and along the East Coast.
When comparing similarly sized metros, Sarasota ranked as having the second lowest delinquency rate among mid-sized metro areas in the country, just behind Santa Rosa, California, and ahead of Fort Collins, Colorado. Bend-Redmond, Oregon, had the lowest rate for delinquent mortgages in the country with just 0.4% of mortgages more than 30 days late on a payment.
The metro areas with the highest mortgage delinquency rate were: Laredo, Texas, (5.9%); Lake Charles, Louisiana, (4.6%); McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, (4.4%); Charleston, West Virginia, (4.3%); Huntington-Ashland West Virginia/Kentucky/Ohio, (4.2%); Dover, Delaware, (4.1%); Baton Rouge, Louisiana, (4.0%); East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, (3.9%); Jackson, Mississippi, (3.9%) and Mobile, Alabama, (3.9%).
Recent real estate news: Sarasota-Manatee rents still high after seven months of price declines, report finds
More: Hotel proposals seek reversal of Siesta Key legal victories after two-year court battle
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota area leads in Florida for fewest late mortgage payments
