MBA: 7 States Driving Foreclosure Rates

Seven states are driving the trends in mortgage foreclosure rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Delinquency Survey.The percentage of loans on one- to four-unit residential properties in the foreclosure process stood at 1.28% at the end of the first quarter, up from 1.19% in the fourth quarter and 0.98% a year earlier, the survey found. The rate of loans entering foreclosure stood at 0.58% on a seasonally adjusted basis, up from 0.54% in the fourth quarter and 0.41% a year earlier. "The percentage of loans in foreclosure would be well below the average of the last 10 years were it not for Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, and the rate of foreclosures started nationwide would have fallen were it not for big jumps in California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona," said MBA chief economist Doug Duncan. "Those states have special circumstances that do not reflect what is happening in the rest of the country." The delinquency rate (which does not include loans in foreclosure) for residential mortgage loans fell from 4.95% in the fourth quarter to 4.84% in the first quarter, but the rate was up from 4.41% a year earlier. The MBA can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.