Delinquent Mortgage Payments

The portion of government-insured home mortgages that are more than 30 days past due has risen to more than 10 percent, the highest level in history according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Ten years ago, the delinquency rate was about 7 percent. But the delinquency rate has climbed from 8.4 percent in the first quarter of 2000 to 10.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000. According to David Leonardt's article in the New York Times, part of the problem stems from the federal government's pressure on banks to increase the availability of home mortgage loans. Between 1982 and 1995, the home ownership rate fell slightly to about 60 percent. But, since 1995 the home ownership rate has jumped to an all-time high of 67.5 percent, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Delinquencies have been especially high in the Southeast, where manufacturers of manufactured housing have cut thousands of jobs. (See next story) In sharp contrast, delinquency rates on conventional first mortgages were only 4.4 percent in the first quarter of this year, up from 3.7 percent a year earlier.