The results from the second quarter came in on Friday from the Mortgage Bankers Association and they were sobering. Nearly 1 in 10 mortgages were 30 days or more late. It was news like this that prompted the federal government to take of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the weekend. As drastic as that measure might seem, the Fed apparently saw the writing on the wall. This title wave of defaulting mortgages is far too big for Fannie and Freddie to handle on their own. Here is a link to a recent WSJ article on the MBA report and a few quotes:
The rate of U.S. home mortgages overdue or in foreclosure rose again in the second quarter as housing markets weakened, particularly in California and Florida, and more borrowers defaulted on so-called prime loans.
Among mortgages on one- to four-family homes, 9.16% were at least a month overdue or in the foreclosure process in the second quarter, according to the latest survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, a trade group. That is up from 6.52% a year earlier and is the highest level since the MBA began such surveys 39 years ago.
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For prime loans, 5.35% of loans were past due or in foreclosure in the latest quarter. For subprime, the rate was about 30%.
In the latest quarter, 2.75% of all loans were in the foreclosure process, up from 1.40% a year earlier.
California and Florida account for about one in five mortgage loans outstanding, but 39% of loans that went into the foreclosure process in the quarter were in those two states.
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Among loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, 14.87% were overdue or in foreclosure, up from 14.73% a year earlier. The portion of FHA loans going bad is likely to increase in the quarters ahead because of a surge in new loans insured by the federal agency.
The share of new mortgages insured by the FHA leaped to 23% in July from a low of 1.8% in 2006, according to Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication. Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, said the FHA’s share might reach 30% by year end.