OCC Reports Mortgage Performance Improve in First Quarter 2016

Performance of first-lien mortgages improved during the first quarter of 2016 compared with a year earlier, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's (OCC) quarterly report on mortgages.

The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, First Quarter 2016 , showed 94.9 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, compared with 94.2 percent a year earlier.

The report also showed that foreclosure activity has declined. Reporting servicers initiated 58,921 new foreclosures during the first quarter of 2016, a 29.1 percent decrease from a year earlier. As first-lien mortgage performance improves, the need for other loss mitigation actions declines. Servicers implemented 34,481 mortgage modifications in the first quarter of 2016. Eighty-seven percent of the modifications reduced borrowers' monthly payments.

The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC's quarterly report comprise 38 percent of all residential mortgages outstanding in the United States or about 21.1 million loans totaling $3.6 trillion in principal balances. This report provides information on their performance through March 31, 2016.