ICE Mortgage Technology's September 28 first look puts the August 2026 national mortgage delinquency rate at 3.53%, up 0.14 percentage point from July. The company says this rise was effectively flat after a calendar-driven decline the month before. A one-month move alone is not evidence of a sudden foreclosure wave.
The more concerning measure is serious delinquency: ICE estimates 574,000 loans were seriously delinquent at the end of August, up 11,000 for the month and 19% from a year earlier. It puts that share at 1.04% of active loans. Foreclosure starts fell 6% in August but remained 29% above a year earlier. Pre-sale foreclosure inventory was 0.54% of active loans, unchanged for the month but up by 89,000 loans, or 41%, over the year.
These are ICE estimates extrapolated from its loan-level mortgage database, not a census of every borrower. Its release says whole-number loan counts are generally rounded. A borrower behind on payments should contact their servicer before ignoring a notice and can seek a HUD-approved housing counselor; the data does not determine anyone's eligibility for help. The separate OCC and FHFA second-quarter reports cover different loan populations and time windows, so their percentages are not interchangeable with ICE's August figure.