USA: One in Eight Homes Delinquent or in Foreclosure

Foreclosure actions were initiated on 1.37 percent of first mortgages during the first quarter of 2009.

The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process at the end of the first quarter was 3.85 percent.

The [seasonally adjusted] delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties was 9.12 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the first quarter of 2009.

The delinquency rate includes loans that are at least one payment past due but does not include loans in the process of foreclosure.

The combined percentage of loans in foreclosure and at least one payment past due, meaning the percentage of mortgage holders not current on their mortgages, was 12.07 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the highest ever recorded. [Mortgage Bankers Association]

America has achieved a new record: one in eight homes is delinquent or in the foreclosure process.

The loans going delinquent now are not the subprime and "exotic" option ARM/Alt-A loans, but prime, fixed rate loans, due to homeowners' job losses.

According to the writers, California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada are responsible for about 46 percent of the foreclosure starts. The big boom in the west turned into the big bust in the west.

Overall, the figures shows the magnitude of the US housing debacle, and how in the national picture it’s premature to call a market bottom.