Mortgage Delinquencies to Improve by Year-End 2010

National mortgage loan delinquencies — borrowers with loans that are 60 days or more past due — will drop by nearly 3 percent by the end of 2010, according to the annual credit forecast by TransUnion. The projected decrease would reverse a trend in which mortgage delinquencies posted year-over-year increases of 54 percent between 2006 and 2007, 53 percent between 2007 and 2008, and 43 percent between 2008 and 2009.

Ezra Becker of TransUnion’s financial services group says delinquencies will decrease gradually due to expected improvements in unemployment rates and housing values. “We expect this change to be driven in part through the continued conservative approach lenders are taking to new loan underwriting, as many of the existing mortgages in the market work their way out of the system and off the books of lending institutions,” Becker says.

By the end of 2010, Florida is projected to have the highest mortgage delinquency rate at 16.86 percent, followed by Nevada at 16.14 percent, while North Dakota (1.43 percent), South Dakota (2.20 percent) and Nebraska (2.35 percent) are forecast to have the lowest delinquency rates.

Tue, Dec 8, 2009