CoreLogic: Property Tax Delinquencies Fell To 5.9% In 2021

CoreLogic, a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, released its Real Estate Property Tax Delinquency Report, which analyzes real estate property tax delinquency changes nationally and at state levels. 2021 annual data shows a national average delinquency rate of 5.9%, down 0.4% from the year prior.

The CoreLogic Property Tax Delinquency Report analyzes national and state real estate property tax delinquency percentages spanning the period from 2011 to 2021. The report examines periodic changes to the tax payment status for loans requiring payment by the homeowner to appropriate taxing authorities. 

“Homeowners in financial distress are more likely to be late on their property tax payment,” said Dr. Frank Nothaft, CoreLogic chief economist. “During the past decade, 2011 had the highest annual average unemployment and tax delinquency rates.  Unemployment was at its lowest in 2018 and 2019, the two years with the lowest delinquency rates.  The rise in delinquency in 2020 and decline during 2021 reflects the large job loss during the early months of the pandemic and substantial job gain of last year.”

Report Highlights:

• The top five states with the highest average property tax delinquency rates in 2021 include:  Mississippi (15.6%), Delaware (14.5%), Virginia (10.5%), New Jersey/Massachusetts (tie) (10.2%) and Washington, D.C. (10.1%).
• The top five states with the lowest average property tax delinquency rates in 2021 include: North Dakota (1.2%), Minnesota (1.3%), Wisconsin (1.5), Illinois (1.8%) and Utah (2.2%).

In 2021, North Dakota had the lowest percentage of property tax delinquencies at 1.2%. For the same year, Mississippi had the highest with a rate of 15.6%. The 14.4% gap in between the lowest and highest rates in 2021 is slightly less at 13.9% for period spanning 2011 through 2021. Over that time, Minnesota had the lowest average property tax delinquency percentage of 2.0% while Mississippi had the highest rate of 15.9%.