Serious U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Fall to Four-Year Low

By John Gittelsohn - Feb 21, 2013
Seriously delinquent U.S. mortgages fell to the lowest level since 2008 as employment improved and recovering housing demand enabled struggling borrowers to sell without losing money.

Home loans that were more than 90 days behind or in the foreclosure process fell to 6.78 percent of mortgages in the third quarter from 7.03 percent in the previous three months, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. The rate was 7.73 percent a year earlier.

Delinquent borrowers are catching up on payments or finding alternatives to foreclosure as the U.S. economy improves, easing a threat to the housing recovery. The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in January, the fifth straight month below 8 percent. A tight supply of homes on the market is driving up prices and helping struggling owners find buyers.

“There’s definite movement in the right direction,” Michael Fratantoni, the trade group’s vice president of research and economics, said in a phone interview from Dallas. “We’re not back to normal yet, regardless of how you define that.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-02-21/serious-u-s-mortgage-delinquencies-fall-to-four-year-low.html