One in 8 U.S. homeowners late paying or in foreclosure

[tosh]

http://www.reuters.com/article/smallBusinessNews/idUSTRE52442X20090305

One in 8 U.S. homeowners late paying or in foreclosure
Thu Mar 5, 2009 5:18pm EST
By Lynn Adler

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About one in eight U.S. homeowners with mortgages, a record share, ended 2008 behind on their loan payments or in the foreclosure process as job losses intensified a housing crisis spawned by lax lending practices, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.

With unemployment at a 16-1/2-year high and expected to continue rising until mid- to late 2010, more borrowers will pay late or fall into foreclosure this year, said the group's chief economist.

"While California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan continue to dominate the delinquency numbers, some of the sharpest increases we saw last quarter in loans 90 days or more delinquent were in Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi, signs of the spreading impact of the recession," said Jay Brinkmann.

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