Study Finds Sharp Rise in Mortgages 90-Plus Days Delinquent

 Something to go with the "paper mill" reports that have become the new big issue in housing the last two weeks.

The Center for Housing Policy, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Urban Institute have compiled and released the first data on seriously delinquent mortgages for all 366 U.S. metro areas. “Seriously delinquent” mortgages are those that are delinquent 90 days or more or are in the foreclosure process. An analysis of these data for the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas reveals a 32 percent increase over a one-year period in the share of mortgages that are seriously delinquent. In March 2010, more than one in 10 mortgages (10.2 percent) in the 100 largest metropolitan areas was seriously delinquent— up from one in 13 mortgages (7.7 percent) in March 2009.

This next line doesn't bode well for the bubble markets like So Cal

"The most rapid increases in mortgage delinquency occurred in metro areas where home prices are much higher than local incomes can afford," said Tom Kingsley, senior fellow at the Urban Institute. "The other factors associated with rising delinquencies were declining employment, plunging home prices and higher densities of sub-prime lending in the peak period from 2004 to 2006."

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