housing woes
- From: Ron Ford <ron@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 02:17:05 -0500
Nearly 1 in 10 Homeowners Face Loan Problems
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
New York Times, June 6, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/business/06mortgage.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Nearly 1 in 10 American homeowners with a mortgage faced foreclosure or
fell behind in their payments in the first three months of the year,
according to a report released Thursday, a figure that offers a look
into the toll caused by the collapse of the housing market.
The period from January to March marked the worst quarter for American
homeowners in nearly a quarter-century, according to a widely watched
report put out by the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group.
Both the rate of new foreclosures and late payments surged to the
highest levels since 1979. (The delinquency rate includes Americans who
are more than a month past due on their home loans.)
A breakdown of the statistics showed problems at nearly every level of
the mortgage industry.
Of the 45 million home loans included in the survey, 6.35 percent were
at least one payment past due, up from 5.82 percent for the fourth
quarter of 2007. (All figures are adjusted for seasonal factors.)
Foreclosure proceedings began on 0.99 percent of loans, up from 0.83
percent in the previous quarter.
Over all, the percentage of loans being foreclosed on reached 2.47
percent in the first quarter, rising from 2.04 percent at the end of
December 2007.
The drop in home prices, which has affected a broad swath of the
nation's housing market, has left many homeowners paying mortgages worth
more than their own homes. The housing slump is the worst of its kind
since the recession of the early 1990s.
The mortgage problems were worst for homeowners who took out subprime
loans, which are usually issued to applicants with less-than-pristine
credit histories. But even borrowers with solid credit records have not
been immune.
"While the foreclosure start rates were up for all types of mortgages, a
reflection of the decline in home prices, the magnitude of the national
increases is clearly driven by certain loan types and certain states,"
said Jay Brinkmann, the group's vice president for research and economics.
For example, he said, subprime adjustable rate mortgages represent 6
percent of the loans outstanding but 39 percent of the foreclosures in
the quarter. Prime adjusted loans represented 15 percent of the loans,
but 23 percent of the foreclosures started.
"Out of the approximately 516,000 foreclosures started during the first
quarter," Mr. Brinkmann said "subprime ARM loans accounted for about
195,000 and prime ARM loans 117,000."
Four states — Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada — accounted for
about 39 percent of the foreclosures, a disproportionately high amount
of the newly reported figures. Those regions have suffered the sharpest
price drops.
"The problems in California and Florida are extraordinary, and they are
the main drivers of the national trend," Mr. Brinkmann said.
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: housing woes
- From: old . salt
- Re: housing woes
- Prev by Date: Re: McMahon fighting foreclosure on Beverly Hills homeLOS ANGELES
- Next by Date: committee report
- Previous by thread: New President of the UN General Assembly
- Next by thread: Re: housing woes
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
