More than 25 pct of major U.S. fire site borrowers at risk of delinquency

Xinhua
21 Feb 2025, 23:47 GMT+10

NEW YORK, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- More than one in four borrowers in the area of the Los Angeles' Palisades Fire in the U.S. state of California are at risk of falling behind on their mortgages this month, according to preliminary estimates from Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE).

The rate is lower in the Eaton wildfire zone, where one in six borrowers are in danger of missing this month's payment, according to ICE, which tracks U.S. mortgages. In total, as many as 3,300 borrowers are at risk, a major increase from the estimated 680 borrowers who missed mortgage payments in January.

"What we're seeing so far in terms of timing is in line with what we have seen in past events," Andy Walden, ICE's head of mortgage and housing market research, was quoted by Bloomberg News on Friday as saying in an emailed statement.

Usually delinquencies rise the month after a disaster, jump sharply in the second month and peak three months after, before slowly improving, he noted.

"Los Angeles homeowners have been reeling from the destruction caused by the wildfires in January that killed at least 29 people," noted the report. The fires destroyed about 16,000 structures and are estimated to have caused as much as 164 billion U.S. dollars in economic losses. In total, there was 11 billion dollars in outstanding mortgage debt in the path of the fire, ICE said.

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