Thrifts Now Hold $24 Billion in Delinquent Mortgages

Seriously delinquent single-family loans held on the balance sheets of thrift institutions hit a record high of 5.5% in the second quarter, an increase of 180 basis points over the past six months, according to new figures released by the Office of Thrift Supervision. The 794 federal chartered thrifts hold $437.6 billion in single-family loans, $24.1 billion of which are 90 days or more past due. "Mortgages on one-to-four family properties comprise approximately 68% of troubled assets," OTS said, compared to only 23% of troubled assets during the thrift crisis in 1990 when commercial real estate loans were responsible for the failure of many S&Ls. The thrift delinquency rate increased from the first to the second quarter even through the largest thrift, Countrywide Savings, was merged into Bank of America, a national bank, in April. Countrywide Savings had $6.7 billion in troubled assets and it originated $30 billion in single-family loans in the first quarter. The remaining thrift institutions originated $62.4 billion in the second quarter, an increase of less than 1% from the first quarter if Countrywide is not counted. (Thrifts, including Countrywide, originated $88.1 billion in mortgages during the first quarter.) OTS reported that thrift institutions posted a $4 million profit for the second quarter, the first profit in nearly two years. First-quarter losses totaled $1.6 billion.