Posted on 09/06/2007 8:28:05 AM PDT by Moonman62
Subprime Mortgage Woes Push New Foreclosures to a Record High
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure notices hit a record high in the spring, driven up by problems with subprime mortgages.
The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday that mortgage-holders starting the foreclosure process in the April-June quarter reached 0.65 percent, marking the third consecutive quarter that this figure has set an all-time high.
The delinquency rate, which tracks the number of people who are behind in their payments but have not yet entered the foreclosure process, was also up sharply during the spring, rising to 5.12 percent of all loans, up nearly three-fourths of a percentage point from the same period a year ago.
Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, said the worsening performance was driven by two factors -- heavy job losses in the Midwest states of Ohio, Michigan and Indiana and the collapse of previously booming housing markets in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.
The Midwest has been hit hard by a heavy loss of jobs in manufacturing, especially in autos and related industries.
"The percent of mortgages in Ohio that are 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure is still more than twice the national average and 1 percent of all the mortgages in Michigan had foreclosure actions started on them during the last quarter," Duncan said.
He said there were also significant problems in the neighboring states of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Analysts said the problems in the formerly red-hot housing markets of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona reflected in part speculators walking away from mortgages they can no longer afford.
During a five-year housing boom, the prices in these areas surged, creating what many analysts have described as a speculative bubble as investors bid up the price of homes hoping to quickly resell them for a profit.
Now with home sales falling, the inventory of unsold homes rising and prices stagnant, some speculators are choosing to default on their mortgages.
Another big problem is that an estimated 2 million adjustable rate mortgages are scheduled to reset this year at sharply higher interest rates, which will cause monthly payments in some cases to double or even triple, a problem that is especially severe in the market for subprime mortgages, loans offered to borrowers with weak credit histories.
The delinquency rate for subprime loans increased sharply to 14.82 percent -- up from 13.77 percent -- in the first quarter.
The delinquency rate for prime loans, offered to borrowers with good credit histories, also increased but by a much smaller amount, rising to 2.73 percent, up 2.58 percent in the first quarter.
Democrats have blamed predatory lending practices for a large part of the current problems and have introduced a number of bills aimed at helping homeowners stay in their houses.
Federal and banking regulators issued guidance this week encouraging lending institutions to work with borrowers to restructure loans at more favorable terms rather than foreclosing on the existing mortgages.
Last week, President Bush announced changes in the Federal Home Administration insured-loan program to help combat the expected wave of foreclosures and also answer attacks from Democrats that his administration has been slow to respond to a growing crisis in mortgage foreclosures.
Mortgage Bankers Association: http://www.mortgagebankers.org
After reading this thread, I’m getting whiplash from the backlash of opposite beliefs from the so-called GOP! Please help us, Lord.
That's due to the large box of popcorn I have on hand. This show will be a double feature. "Attack of the Killer Mortgages" followed by "Debtzilla".
Logic would dictate that if it's still yours after 20 years, then you did NOT buy more house than you could afford. The people who bought more house then could afford 20 years no longer own them because they couldn't afford them.
This article says, in the spring. Isn’t it higher now?
Nope. I had to borrow money from friends to qualify. I made a 10% down payment (that was the minimum you could make back then) and it wiped me out. I relied on pay raises and I paid the money back in a few months.
I think we can measure the bubble by the number of those shows.
The article is about the second quarter. We are already in the last month of the third quarter. These mortgage guys are slow to publish their statistics.
Not quite the same thing. It’s a time honored tradition in my family for the parents to make the down payment on their children’s first house. What determines afford ability is your income to mortgage payment ration. If you can’t afford the payment, you will eventually lose the house, it’s a guarantee.
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