Business
ICE First Look at Mortgage Performance: Increased Refinance Activity Drives Mortgage Prepayments Back Toward 3.5-Year High
ATLANTA & NEW YORK, January 26, 2026--ICE Mortgage Technology, neutral provider of a robust end-to-end mortgage platform and part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), today released the December 2025 ICE First Look at mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment trends.
About this update from Intercontinental Exchange Inc.
[{"type":"image","alt":"","displaySize":"","headline":null,"caption":"","credit":null,"className":"","disableSlideshowImg":false,"size":{"original":{"width":447,"height":439,"url":"https://media.zenfs.com/en/business-wire.com/fd463b8036ec3d74f69e73f2636b8ff6"},"resized":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/djampNtuknhFhZin0TsQew--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNTtoPTY5MjtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/business-wire.com/fd463b8036ec3d74f69e73f2636b8ff6","width":447,"height":439}},"lazy":false},{"type":"text","content":"ATLANTA & NEW YORK, January 26, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ICE Mortgage Technology, neutral provider of a robust end-to-end mortgage platform and part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), today released the December 2025 ICE First Look at mortgage delinquency, foreclosure and prepayment trends.","length":306,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""December’s numbers show that lower interest rates drove refinance activity and prepayments to near multi-year highs," said Andy Walden, Head of Mortgage and Housing Market Research at ICE. "At the same time, there was a divergence in delinquency trends, with early-stage delinquencies improving and late-stage delinquencies continuing to rise. Foreclosure activity also increased, driven mainly by FHA and VA loans."","length":437,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Key takeaways from this month’s findings include:","length":49,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"list","items":[{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"Early-stage delinquencies improved: The national delinquency rate fell by 16 basis points (bps) in December to 3.68% following November’s calendar related high. This is down 3 bps from the same time last year and 26 bps below the December 2019 pre-pandemic benchmark.","length":267,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}}]},{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"Late-stage delinquencies reached a near two-year high: While earlier-stage delinquencies (30- and 60-day) improved in December, late-stage delinquencies (90+ day) increased by 30,000, reaching their highest level in nearly three years and standing 19,000 above last year’s level.","length":279,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}}]},{"val":[{"type":"text","content":"Prepayments remain robust: The single month mortality (SMM) rate, which tracks prepayments, rose by 8 bps in December to 0.91%, just 10 bps shy of the October 3.5-year h...