The foreclosure rate among outstanding mortgage loans in Baton Rouge decreased to about 1% in December, though foreclosure activity in the area was still higher than the national rate of 0.85%, according to a new report by global property information firm CoreLogic.
Year-over-year, the foreclosure rate in December was 0.09 percentage points lower than it was in December 2015. The declining rate caps off a record-breaking year in the Baton Rouge area, when total homes sales for the year topped 10,610, according to the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors.
The record high, the GBRAR says, was fueled in part by increased activity in the market following the August flood. December marked the third straight month of big sales increases in the Capital Region.
Even though the foreclosure rate declined year-over-year in Baton Rouge, the rate has steadily risen every month since September 2016 when 0.85% of outstanding mortgages entered foreclosure. CoreLogic defines the foreclosure rate as the percentage of loans in some stage of the foreclosure process.
CoreLogic also reports the mortgage delinquency rate in Baton Rouge—that is, the percentage of home loans that are more than 90 days delinquent—increased in December to 5.33%, up from 3.79% in December 2015. Baton Rouge’s mortgage delinquency rate was higher than the rates for both the state (4.4%) and the nation (2.6%)
Louisiana’s foreclosure rate in December was just under 1.1%, down from about 1.3% in December 2015.
