Map Shows Where Homeowners Are Behind on Mortgage Payments
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
With rising property taxes and surging home insurance premiums, homeowners are struggling to keep hold of their properties, as shown by a recent increase in serious mortgage delinquencies across the United States.
Serious mortgage delinquency rates started climbing across the country in mid-2024, reversing a trend of steady declines established in the previous three years, according to a new report by Cotality.
Almost all states saw a slight uptick—but in some, including Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia, delinquency rates skyrocketed over the past year.
What Is a Serious Delinquency?
A serious delinquency happens when a mortgage loan is 90 days or more past due. At that point, a bank considers the mortgage in danger of default and can take possession of the property to recoup losses. While banks would usually try to work out a solution with borrowers, homeowners stand to lose their home if they fall so much behind on payments.
Where Did Serious Delinquency Rates Rise the Most Over the Past Year?
The biggest year-over-year increase in serious delinquencies in the nation was reported in Louisiana, where rates went up by an overall 1.87 percent for all loans. More specifically, conventional loans saw an uptick in serious delinquencies of 1.25 percent; FHA loans of 3.96 percent; and VA loans of 5.44 percent.
It was followed by Florida, with a 1.43 percent year-over-year increase for all loans; Oklahoma, with 1.24 percent; Georgia, with 1.12 percent; Texas, with 1.11 percent; Indiana, with 1.09 percent; South Carolina, with 1.05 percent; North Carolina, with 0.83 percent; Nebraska, with 0.81 percent; and Colorado, with 0.55 percent.
Why Are Serious Delinquency Rates Going Up?
Even homeowners who are dealing with relatively cheaper monthly payments are struggling with the higher cost of homeownership, due in part to the explosion in property values linked to the COVID-19 pandemic homebuying frenzy and in part to the increased frequency of particularly devastating extreme weather events.
Colorado, Georgia and Florida, which experienced the three highest year-over-year increases in serious delinquency rates between 2024 and 2025, also reported the highest jumps in property taxes between 2019 and 2024, according to Cotality data.
In Colorado, property taxes surged by 52.9 percent in those five years; in Georgia, by 51.5 percent; in Florida, by 47.5 percent. In Texas and California, property taxes also increased by over 30 percent within the same time frame.
These same states—which are particularly vulnerable to an array of natural disasters ranging from hurricanes to wildfires and flooding—have faced steep increases in homeowner insurance rates over the past five years. Not only do insurers want to charge more to keep up with higher catastrophe exposures, but homeowners in these states have also faced shrinking availability due to carriers withdrawing from the most at-risk areas.
In South Carolina, a total of 14 insurers ran out of funds between 2020 and 2023, leaving homeowners scrambling for options in the private market.
The highest overall delinquency rate, however, was reported in Mississippi, a state which also has the lowest median household income and is among the top 15 states at risk of storm surge damage from hurricanes, according to Cotality data.
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