U.S. Mortgage Foreclosures Rose in Fourth Quarter

A record number of Americans were in danger of losing their homes in the fourth quarter, even as new delinquencies declined, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Loans in foreclosure rose to 4.58 percent of all mortgages, while those more than 90 days overdue -- the point at which lenders usually begin the process of seizing a property -- climbed to 5.09 percent, the Washington-based trade group said in a report today.

“We have a hard-core block of unemployed who have been out of jobs for a long time, and that’s keeping the long-term delinquencies high,” Jay Brinkmann, the association’s chief economist, said in an interview. “New entrants to the ranks of the unemployed have been falling, and that’s why we see the early delinquencies dropping.” (more)