7.2 Million Loans Behind on Payments, One Million REOs

More than 7.2 million mortgage loans are now behind on payments and one million properties are now in real estate-owned status, according to the January 2010 Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services in Jacksonville, Fla. Home delinquency rates have surpassed 10%. The total foreclosure inventory rate is 3.2%, and the total non-current rate, which combines foreclosures and delinquencies, sits at 13.3%. The percent of "new" serious delinquencies is 4.64%, higher than any other year analyzed for the same period. Of loans that were current as of Dec. 31, 2008, by Dec. 2009 there were 2.3 million new loans that were considered seriously delinquent. Prime loans, including agency, non-agency and jumbo, have experienced deterioration at a worse pace on a relative basis than subprime, FHA and all loans as a whole. Within the prime category, loans with current unpaid principal balances between $417,000 and $600,000 have performed the worse, LPS said. States with most non-current loans include Florida, Nevada, Mississippi, Arizona, Georgia, California, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. States with fewest non-current loans are North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.