A financial institution Trans Unions provided us with a quarterly analysis of new trends in the mortgage industry. They found that mortgage loan delinquency increased for the twelfth straight quarter and hit 6.89 percent, which is an all time national average high. This is the only time in American history where delinquency rates increased and did not decelerate after three consecutive periods.
This statistic is generally considered the beginnings of foreclosure and it rose by 10.24 percent from the previous quarter’s 6.25 percent average. The rate at which mortgage borrowers went into late payments is up by about 50 percent, up from 4.58 percent.
Nevada and Florida were the two states with the largest amount of mortgage borrower delinquency rates while the smallest mortgage delinquency rates were North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska. Areas that demonstrated the greatest amount of growth in delinquency from the previous quarter were the District of Columbia, Delaware and Louisiana. Each state in the country saw an increase in mortgage delinquency rates.
Not all of the information that was obtained was bad for the mortgage sector in the fourth quarter. Thirty eight Metropolitan Statistical Areas actually showed that their mortgage loan delinquency rates were decreasing since the third quarter. Areas in Oregon, Indiana and Pennsylvania exhibited the most improved credit conditions.
The differences in the rates of delinquency point to the fact that the recession and eventual recovery are based both on house price conditions and unemployment levels. A bit of good news is that in the third and fourth quarters of 2008, the average price of single family homes that already existed fell to almost seven percent between 2008′s third and fourth quarters, but in 2009 it only dropped -0.4 percent between the third and fourth quarters of 2008.
What does this mean for the future? TransUnion predicts that 60 day mortgage delinquencies will reach a high between 7.5 and 8 percent over the course of 2010. Additionally, experts believe that Nevada will have the highest mortgage delinquency rate by the middle of 2010, and North Dakota is expected to continue to have the lowest mortgage delinquency rate by the summer.
Mallory Megan works for a debt collection company. Also she writes articles on business, finance, the credit industry and collection agencies. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.
