The national delinquency rate held steady in April at 3.35%, according to Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), which recently released its June 2026 ICE Mortgage Monitor report.
Between March and April, mortgage performance was essentially constant, with the percentage of past-due loans remaining below pre-pandemic levels, the report said.
Overall, ICE said that delinquency levels remain 45 basis points below pre-pandemic benchmarks set in January 2020 but are up 13 basis points from the same period last year. It said that the recent rise was driven by an increase in serious delinquencies — loans 90 or more days past due but not in foreclosure — which, despite a seasonal decline in April, are up 21%, or 101,000 loans, from year-ago levels.
ICE noted that early-stage delinquencies — loans 30 or 60 days past due — are down 5,000 over the same period.
The overall rise in serious delinquencies largely is attributable to FHA loans, where serious delinquencies are up 105,000 from a year ago, ICE noted. That increase was driven in large part by delays in cure timing among loans in trial payment plans.
VA Serious Delinquencies Are Up
VA serious delinquencies increased by a modest 4,500, ICE reported, while serious delinquencies among GSE loans (down 4,700), portfolio-held loans (down 1,700) and privately securitized loans (down 2,300) all declined from a year-ago, and privately securitized loans (down 2,300) all declined from year-ago levels, ICE said.
ICE also reported that U.S. homeowners tapped equity at the highest first-quarter levels since 2021.
ICE, one of the world’s leading providers of financial market technology and data, said that increase was driven in part by second-lien lending, which reached its strongest first-quarter volume in almost two decades as more borrowers opted to preserve their existing low-rate first mortgages.
“The housing market continues to be defined by the lock-in effect,” said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. “Millions of homeowners are sitting on first mortgages with rates well below current market levels, making second liens and HELOCs an attractive way to access equity without giving up those loans. While higher mortgage rates have reduced refinance opportunities and softened affordability gains in recent months, home prices continue to firm across much of the country and affordability remains improved from year-ago levels.”
ICE noted that equity withdrawals increased 2% year over year in Q1, reaching their highest first-quarter level since 2021. It said that more than half (54%) of all equity extraction came through second liens as borrowers continued to preserve historically low first-mortgage rates. ICE noted that cash-out refinance withdrawals reached their highest first-quarter level since 2022, while second-lien withdrawals posted their strongest first-quarter performance in almost two decades.
According to ICE, almost two-thirds of Q1 second-lien originations came from 2020–2022 vintage borrowers seeking to preserve their below market first-lien rates. Now, ICE said, 3.9 million people who took out a primary mortgage from 2020–2022 have added second liens. Cash-out refinances showed a broader vintage mix, ICE said, with almost half coming from 2023-or-later borrowers and a quarter from 2020–2022 era borrowers.
HELOC Rates Fall
Average second-lien HELOC rates fell to 6.6% in March, their most attractive level since late 2022. At those rates, ICE said a borrower can access $50,000 in equity with a monthly payment of roughly $275, down from early 2024 levels. Average introductory HELOC rates also dropped slightly below the prime rate, highlighting increasingly aggressive lender competition for home equity business.
A roughly 50-basis-point increase in mortgage rates since February has reversed some of the affordability gains registered earlier this year. Homebuyers still have roughly 3% more purchasing power than they did a year ago, and the monthly payment on the average-priced home remains $48 lower than last May, ICE noted. Buying the average-priced home now requires 29.8% of median household income, down from 31.6% a year ago.
According to ICE, almost 70% of major markets posted annual home price gains in May, the largest share since July 2025, while nearly 90% recorded seasonally adjusted month-over-month appreciation, the strongest reading in two years. The report said that the spread between the nation’s strongest and weakest housing markets has narrowed to one of the smallest levels on record, suggesting increasingly synchronized home price performance. It said Northeastern markets continue to lead annual appreciation, while a handful of formerly high-growth Sun Belt markets remain under pressure.
“As refinance opportunities become more limited, home equity products are playing a larger role in helping homeowners access liquidity and meet financial goals,” said Bob Hart, President of ICE Mortgage Technology. “Lenders that can effectively identify, engage and serve those borrowers across both mortgage and home equity channels will be best positioned to capitalize on evolving consumer demand.”
