Subprime woes push foreclosure notices to new high

The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure notices hit a record high in the spring, driven up by problems with subprime mortgages.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Thursday that mortgage-holders starting the foreclosure process in the April-June quarter reached 0.65 percent, marking the third consecutive quarter this figure has set an all-time high.

The delinquency rate, which tracks the number of people behind in their payments but not yet in the foreclosure process, was also up sharply.

It rose to 5.12 percent of all loans, up nearly three-fourths of a percentage point from the same period a year ago.

Among the states, Washington ranked 47th in delinquencies and 49th in foreclosure activity, the MBA reported.

The percentage of in-state loans on which foreclosure was started during the second quarter fell slightly to 0.27 percent.

The delinquency rate for Washington mortgages rose to 2.62 percent, up about one-third of 1 percent from the first quarter.

Doug Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, said two factors were behind the nation's worsening performance: heavy job losses in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana and the collapse of once-booming housing markets in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona.

The Midwest is seeing big job losses in manufacturing, especially in autos and related industries.

"The percent of mortgages in Ohio that are 90 days or more past due or in foreclosure is still more than twice the national average, and 1 percent of all the mortgages in Michigan had foreclosure actions started on them during the last quarter," Duncan said.

He said there were also significant problems in the neighboring states of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

Analysts said the problems in formerly red-hot housing markets partly reflected speculators walking away from mortgages they can no longer afford.

During a five-year housing boom, home values in these areas surged, creating what many analysts have described as a speculative bubble as investors bid up the price of homes hoping to quickly resell them for a profit.

Now with sales falling, the inventory of unsold homes rising and prices stagnant, some speculators are choosing to default on their mortgages.

Another big problem is an estimated 2 million adjustable-rate mortgages that are scheduled to reset this year at sharply higher interest rates.

That will cause monthly payments in some cases to double or even triple, a problem that is especially severe in the subprime-mortgage market, serving borrowers with weak credit histories.

The national delinquency rate for subprime loans rose sharply to 14.82 percent — up from 13.77 percent — in the first quarter. Washington state's rate was 9.37 percent, up 1.34 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Some 15 percent of the state's borrowers are nonprime, meaning they have either subprime or FHA mortgages.

The national delinquency rate for prime loans, offered to borrowers with good credit histories, also increased but by a much smaller amount, rising to 2.73 percent, up from 2.58 percent in the first quarter.

In Washington, the delinquency rate for prime loans was 1.39 percent, up slightly from the previous quarter.

Democrats have blamed predatory-lending practices for a large part of the current problems and have introduced a number of bills aimed at helping homeowners stay in their houses.

Federal and banking regulators issued guidance this week encouraging lenders to work with borrowers to restructure loans at more favorable terms, rather than foreclose.

Last week, President Bush announced changes in the Federal Home Administration insured-loan program to help combat the expected wave of foreclosures and also answer attacks from Democrats that his administration has been slow to respond to a growing crisis in mortgage foreclosures.

Seattle Times real-estate reporter Elizabeth Rhodes provided Washington state information for this report.