According to a recent report from Lender Processing Services, the delinquency rate of mortgages monitored by the company decreased significantly in January.

The report indicated that the delinquency rate fell to 7.97 percent during the month, which is a 10.5 percent decrease on an annual basis and 2.2 percent lower than the rate recorded in December. New government programs giving households more affordable closing solutions could be responsible for the decrease.  

Meanwhile, there are still approximately 4 million properties with mortgages that are more than 30 days delinquent, while 1.77 million homes are 90 days past due, but have yet to reach foreclosure status.

Additionally, the report found that the states with the highest percentage of delinquent homes were Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois. In contrast, the states with the lowest rate of noncurrent loans were Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota and Alaska.  

However, while the delinquency rate dipped lower, the report noted that the foreclosure rate among the 40 million mortgages monitored by LPS rose 1.1 percent, bringing the foreclosure presale inventory rate to 4.15 percent. With the increase there are now roughly 2.08 million homes in that inventory.