Mortgage Delinquencies at All-Time High

Washington, DC, March 5, 2009--Mortgage delinquencies rose by a record percentage in the fourth quarter of 2008, hitting 7.88% of loans outstanding, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

The delinquency rate, which includes loans that are at least one payment past due but not yet in foreclosure, was up from 6.99% in the third quarter and from 5.82% a year earlier.

The rate of new foreclosures was up slightly to 1.08%, putting 3.30% of mortgages somewhere in the foreclosure process. The combined percent of loans past due and in foreclosure jumped to a seasonally adjusted 11.18%, the highest since the MBA began keeping records in 1972