Data through: Q2 2026 · updated Aug 26 · Updates: Quarterly
↑ 0.1 pp YoY
Historical context: Currently in the 20th percentile — near historically low/favorable levels.
What this means right now: Mortgage delinquency is very low — below 2%, as in 1999–2000, 2002–06 and since 2022. None of those 39 quarters fell inside a recession, and the 2004 low came at the height of the housing bubble.
Mortgage Delinquency Rate · Quarterly · 1991–2026
NBER recessions
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Monthly values
Mortgage Delinquency Rate — the last 8 quarters
Every quarter's reading, with the band the heatmap gives it. The chart above shows the same series in full.
Quarter
Value
Band
Q2 2026
1.86%
Very strong reading
Q1 2026
1.88%
Very strong reading
Q4 2025
1.79%
Very strong reading
Q3 2025
1.78%
Very strong reading
Q2 2025
1.78%
Very strong reading
Q1 2025
1.77%
Very strong reading
Quarter-end readings of the same series the chart shows, from mortgage_delinquency. Values are the current record, not point-in-time: a month that has since been revised shows its revised value.
What is the Mortgage Delinquency?
The mortgage delinquency rate measures the percentage of single-family residential mortgage loans held on the books of US commercial banks on which the borrower is 30 or more days past due. Loans in nonaccrual status count. Mortgages are the largest category of household debt, so this is one of the most consequential reads on household finances and housing-market stress. It climbs when job losses, falling home prices or rate shocks push borrowers behind, and falls when employment is strong and home equity is rising.
Mortgage delinquency has not always lagged the other kinds. It turned up before card delinquency in 1999 and 2004, and two years after it in 2021–23; at the 2009–10 crest it peaked three quarters after cards. Over the whole record its yearly changes fit the card rate's best two to three quarters behind: households do tend to keep the mortgage current longest, but the order is not fixed. The rate reached 11.5% in the 2008–10 foreclosure crisis. In the Housing Cycle it is a lagging voter: its turns have followed single-family starts' by about 12 months (correlation 0.8 at that lag).
Scope: this series measures mortgages booked at commercial banks, from the Federal Reserve's quarterly call-report aggregates. That is a narrower universe than all-servicer surveys such as the MBA's, which also cover non-bank servicers and the FHA and VA market. The site does not hold those surveys, so the two levels are not compared here; read this series for its own direction and turning points.
How We Color-Code the Mortgage Delinquency
Our heatmap colors this indicator against historically significant thresholds:
Below 2.00%
Very low — below 2%, as in 1999–2000, 2002–06 and since 2022: 39 of the 142 quarters since 1991, none inside a recession
2.00% – 2.50%
Low — 2% to 2.5%, as in 1993–2002, 2007 and 2019–22: 40 quarters, 4 of them inside a recession
2.50% – 4.00%
Moderate — 2.5% to 4%, as in 1991–93, 2007–08 and 2017–21: 28 quarters, 3 of them inside a recession
4.00% – 6.00%
Elevated — 4% to 6%, held only nine quarters: two in 2008 on the way up and seven in 2015–16 on the way down from the foreclosure crisis
Above 6.00%
High — above 6%, the foreclosure crisis: every quarter from Q4 2008 to Q1 2015 (26), peaking at 11.5% in Q1 2010
Historical Extremes — What Happened Next?
When this indicator reaches extreme levels, history shows consistent patterns:
Q1 2010Housing Crisis Peak
11.48%
The highest rate on record, at the depth of the foreclosure crisis, with the unemployment rate at 9.8%.
Q4 2004Housing Bubble Low
1.41%
The lowest rate on record, at the height of the housing bubble. Within six years it had risen eightfold, to 11.5%.
Q3 2020COVID shock peak
2.84%
The pandemic's rise stopped at 2.84%, as forbearance kept bank-booked delinquency muted. Since 2023 the rate has stayed below 2%; the latest reading is 1.86%.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this lower than the MBA or other headline delinquency numbers?
This series (FRED DRSFRMACBS) covers only mortgages booked at commercial banks, from the Fed's call-report data. Broad-market surveys such as the MBA's also include non-bank servicers and government-backed loans. The site does not hold those surveys, so it does not compare the levels; read this series for its direction and turning points.
Does mortgage delinquency lag credit-card and auto delinquency?
Not always. In the 2020s stress ran the expected way: cards turned up in 2021, the all-loans rate in 2022 and mortgages only in late 2023. At the 2009–10 crest mortgages peaked three quarters after cards, but in 1999 and 2004 they turned up first. The site has no auto-loan series; the all-loans rate at commercial banks stands in for it.
What has a rising rate come with?
Job losses, falling home prices or payment shocks. On the record since 1991 the rate was above a year earlier in 50 of 138 quarters, through Q2 2026, including 9 of the 11 recession quarters. It was rising for two years or more before the 2001 and 2007 recessions, and not before 2020's; it also rose for two years in 1995–97 and since 2024 with no recession.
Why has mortgage delinquency been so low since 2023?
Underwriting tightened after 2008, owners built equity in the 2020–22 price rise, and most borrowers hold fixed rates from the pandemic years, so existing payments did not rise with new-loan rates. The pandemic shock peaked at 2.84% in Q3 2020 as forbearance kept bank-booked delinquency muted.