Delinquencies on home loans dropped
in March to 0.84 percent of the nation's 50.2 million mortgages -- the
first month since 2007 that delinquencies were below the 1 percent mark,
Lender Processing Services Inc. reports.
First-time defaults -- loans that are at least 60 days delinquent -- peaked in January 2009 at 2.89 percent.
As the economy and employment gradually are on the mend and home
prices rise, more home owners are keeping up with their mortgage
payments.
More home owners are seeing equity once again in their homes, as
prices rise. The number of mortgages with negative equity dropped to 18
percent of homes with a mortgage in January, down from 41 percent one
year earlier.
Source: “Housing Crash Fades as Defaults Decline to 2007 Levels,” Bloomberg (May 6, 2013)