In the wake of Hurricanes Michael and Florence, lenders can expect a spike in mortgage delinquencies from Virginia to the Florida panhandle, Credit Union Times reported. Two studies released this week found mortgage delinquencies rose significantly this past summer in parts of Texas and Florida hit by hurricanes a year ago. “A decade after poorly underwritten mortgages triggered a housing market crash, it’s clear that the foreclosure risk associated with those problem mortgages has faded,” said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. “The biggest foreclosure risk in today’s housing market comes from natural disaster events such as the twin hurricanes of a year ago,” he said. The ATTOM U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released on Thursday shows forecloses were started on 177,146 U.S. properties in the three months ending Sept. 30, down 6 percent from the previous quarter, down 8 percent from a year ago and reaching the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2005. The number of starts was 36 percent below pre-recession average of 278,912 properties per quarter. Also the percentage of foreclosure starts tied to mortgages originated from 2004 to 2008 was 44 percent, down from about 75 percent in 2012.
