Foreclosure starts dropped 11.2% in September from the prior month, but loans in foreclosure have been delinquent an average of 624 days, which is the highest level yet and up about two weeks from the level reported in August. Lender Processing Services‘ (LPS) mortgage monitor report for September showed foreclosure starts fell about 15% from a year earlier, and the national delinquency rate at Sept. 30 is 8.09%, down from 8.13% the prior month and 9.27% a year earlier. The technology, data and analytics provider said the average delinquency process in judicial states, where backlogs remain extremely high, is about 200 days longer than non-judicial states: 751 to 565. First-time delinquencies accounted for about 26% of new delinquencies in September, according to LPS. Almost 40% of loans in foreclosure have not seen a payment in more than two years and foreclosure starts outnumber sales by more than three to one. Meanwhile, new problem loan rates rose sharply the past two months, with 1.6% of seriously delinquent loans in September current six months ago. LPS also said jumbo prime delinquencies remain nearly 300% higher than the 2008 levels. The company tracks loan-level data of nearly 40 million mortgages and said earlier in October that 4.2 million properties are more than 30-days delinquent but not in foreclosure, while 1.84 million properties area at least 90 days past due but not in foreclosure. The company said 2.17 million homes are in the pre-foreclosure sale inventory. Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey and Illinois continue to have the highest percentage of loans in delinquency or foreclosure. The states with the lowest rates of non-current loans were Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Write to Jason Philyaw.