Early data provided by Lender Processing Services (LPS) from its upcoming Mortgage Monitor report show that both national mortgage delinquencies and the foreclosure presale inventory dropped sharply in October.   Statistics from LPS's database represent approximately 70 percent of the mortgage loans serviced by major lenders.

At the end of October the total U.S. mortgage delinquency rate including loans that were 30+ days past due but not in foreclosure was 7.03 percent.  This represents a decline of 4.91 percent from September and a -7.19 change from October 2011.  Nationwide there were 3.5 million loans that were more than 30 days past due and 1.54 million that were 90 or more days past due.  Loans that are in a formal process of foreclosure are not included in those totals.

The foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate (loans that have started the foreclosure process) was 3.61 percent, down 6.77 percent from the previous month and 15.99 percent from one year earlier.  There were 1.8 million homes in the pre-sale inventory and a total of 5.3 million homes in delinquency or foreclosure.

The LPS Mortgage Monitor with complete details on these figures will be published in early December.