The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate rose to 3.53% in August, a modest increase that left borrowers broadly current by historical standards even as the pipeline of loans sitting in foreclosure held at its highest level in more than six years, according to figures Intercontinental Exchange released Sept. 28.
The 14-basis-point rise from July was reported in the company’s First Look at August 2026 mortgage data. The company called the increase effectively flat once the prior month’s calendar-driven decline is taken into account, and said the rate remains 35 basis points below its August 2019 reading and below every pre-pandemic August in its records. Measured against a year earlier, delinquencies were up a modest 10 basis points.
Underneath that steady headline, the report describes a market splitting in two directions: fewer borrowers falling behind for the first time, and a slowly growing group that cannot get current again.
Early-stage delinquencies fall, serious delinquencies turn higher
Loans 30 and 60 days past due rose during the month but remain 21,000 below where they stood a year ago. Seriously delinquent loans — those 90 or more days past due but not yet in foreclosure — moved the other way, rising by 11,000 to 574,000 and ending five consecutive months of declines. That population is 19% larger than it was a year earlier.
The absolute level is still unremarkable by historical standards. At 1.04% of active loans, the serious delinquency rate is essentially in line with the 1.03% average for August in the three years before the pandemic, ICE said.
“While overall performance remains sound, the market isn’t moving uniformly,” said Bob Hart, president of mortgage technology at ICE. He said the company is focused on giving lenders and servicers the data and workflow tools to identify borrowers who may need help earlier and “help keep people in their homes.”
Foreclosure activity eases, but the inventory stays elevated
Foreclosure starts fell 6% from July, though they remain 29% above August 2025. Foreclosure sales — completions — slipped 2% on the month and were up 12% on the year, running at just 57% of the pace set in August 2019.
The pre-sale foreclosure inventory rate was unchanged at 0.54%, matching its highest reading since February 2020. Active foreclosure inventory grew by only 2,000 loans, which ICE identified as the smallest monthly build since November 2025. Over 12 months, however, that inventory is up 89,000 loans, or 41%.
Those two facts are less contradictory than they look. The annual comparison is measured against a period when foreclosure volumes were still suppressed by pandemic-era protections and unusually strong borrower equity, so a large percentage increase can coexist with a small absolute one. On our reading, the more useful signal for servicers and for investors watching distressed supply is the monthly figure: the build has slowed to a near standstill, which argues against any near-term wave of bank-owned inventory reaching the for-sale market.
Prepayments keep sliding as rates push past 7%
The clearest rate-driven number in the report is prepayment speed. Single-month mortality, the share of outstanding loan balances paid off in a month through refinancing, home sales or curtailments, fell 11 basis points to 0.64% — a fifth straight monthly decline and, by ICE’s count, a 17-month low. ICE tied the pullback to mortgage rates trending higher.
Recent borrowers led the slowdown. Among loans originated between 2023 and 2025, single-month mortality eased to 0.91%, down from a March peak of 2.32%. Those are the vintages with rates high enough to refinance profitably if borrowing costs fall, and their behavior is the market’s most sensitive gauge of whether a refinance window is open.
It is not. Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the 30-year fixed-rate average at 7.03% on Sept. 24, up from 6.95% a week earlier and 6.30% a year before. RealtyWire reported earlier this month on rates climbing to their highest level since 2024 and borrowers turning to adjustable-rate products as fixed-rate pricing moved out of reach.
For servicers, slower prepayments mean loan portfolios that run off less quickly and mortgage servicing rights that hold their value longer. For originators, they mean a refinance channel that stays shut. For agents, the same arithmetic shows up as sellers who are unwilling to give up a below-market rate.
What comes next
ICE said it will publish a fuller analysis of the August data in its monthly Mortgage Monitor report, which adds market segmentation and charting to the First Look summary. Recent editions have documented both sides of the same market: record homeowner equity alongside rising delinquencies and foreclosures, and a record share of the monthly payment going to property insurance.
The First Look figures are extrapolated from ICE’s loan-level mortgage database and are rounded to the nearest thousand, except foreclosure starts and sales, which are rounded to the nearest hundred. More mortgage coverage is available from RealtyWire.
