Behind on your mortgage? You are Not Alone.

August 21, 2009
Matt Isleib

 

The highest percentage ever recorded for delinquent mortgages was announced for the second quarter. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that residential mortgages that were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due jumped to 13.16%. Residential mortgages that were somewhere in the foreclosure process reached 4.3% of all mortgages and that number was up from 3.85% in the first quarter of 2009.

The sub-prime and exotic mortgages that were the focal point of the housing bubble are not what has drove the escalation in delinquencies. Prime loans now account for nearly 40 percent of all foreclosure starts. That number is a direct result of the job market. As the flood of jobless claims continue so will the default rate for prime loans. A year ago prime loans, those issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac only accounted for roughly 15 percent of foreclosure starts. That number is nearly doubled in a year as the job market is still weak.