ICE First Look At Mortgage Performance: National Mortgage Delinquency Rate Edges Lower In January

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a provider of technology and data, released the January 2026 ICE First Look at mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment trends. Here’s what it found:

“Mortgage performance held steady to start the year, with fewer early-stage delinquencies helping bring the national delinquency rate down,” said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. “At the same time, late-stage delinquencies and foreclosure volumes are both trending higher than they were a year ago. The data points to a market that remains resilient overall with most borrowers performing well while a subset faces increased payment pressure.”

Key takeaways from this month’s findings include:

  *   The national delinquency rate eased in January: Delinquencies fell by 3 basis points (bps) in January to 3.65% and remain 15 bps below the January 2020 pre-pandemic benchmark.

  *   Early-stage delinquencies drove the decrease: The number of borrowers 30 or 60 days late on their mortgage payments fell by 54,000 from December to January, driving the overall improvement in delinquency figures.

  *   Combined serious delinquency and foreclosure volumes increased: While earlier stage delinquencies improved, there are now more than 850,000 borrowers 90-plus days past due or in active foreclosure, up 104,000 from the same time last year, the largest such volume since July 2022.

  *   Foreclosure activity continued to rise: January saw 42,000 foreclosure starts, the highest monthly total since early 2020 and up 5% year over year, with foreclosure sales rose 28%.

  *   Prepayments pulled back: The single month mortality (SMM) rate, which tracks prepayments, dropped 19 bps to 0.72% from elevated levels over the past three months. An uptick in interest rates in December resulted in fewer January home sales and reduced refinance activity.