The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.06 percent of all loans outstanding in the first quarter, up 59 basis points from the fourth quarter, and up 94 basis points from one year ago, according to the recently released Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey.
The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due, but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. When you consider that current loans in the foreclosure process already are not being counted, the numbers are very sobering. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the first quarter was 4.63 percent, an increase of five basis points compared with the fourth quarter of 2009 and 78 basis points from one year ago. That difference from a year ago is very dramatic, no matter how one wants to spin it.
Foreclosures continue to be a big issue in the marketplace. With the prospect of a lot of adjustable rate mortgages taken out in 2007 and 2008 readjusting in 2012 and 2013, it looks we may need to hunker down for the long haul.
