According to Black Knight’s “first look” report on March mortgage performance statistics, total U.S. loan delinquency ( defined as loans 30 or more days past due but not in foreclosure) fell 5.3% to 3.65%. This is down almost 2% from this time last year. This represented the smallest improvement for any March, typically the strongest performing month of the year, in six years. This comes on the heels of Februarys atypical increase in delinquencies.

While delinquencies haven’t been falling as fast as expected recently, they are still going down. Outstanding 90-day delinquencies are now at 493,000, down 8,000 vs February and down 139,000 from prior year. They have now fallen below 500,000 for the first time in more than 12 years. March’s 39,700 foreclosure starts marked the lowest single-month volume in more than 18 years. A reduced outflow of mortgages working through the foreclosure process held the active foreclosure inventory steady at 264,000.

In response to the decline in interest rates and the start of homebuying season, prepayment activity increased by 28% month-over-month, the largest single-month increase in more than 2.5 years.

This data is extrapolated based on Black Knights loan-level database of mortgage assets which represents the majority of the national mortgage market.

Non-current totals combine foreclosures and delinquencies as a percent of active loans in that state. Here is a list of the top and bottom performing states.