Mammoth Real Estate News

NEW
YORK (AP) — The rate at which people are falling behind on their
mortgage payments went up for the ninth straight quarter in the first
three months of 2009, and is expected to keep rising through the end of
the year, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

Borrowers who were 60 days or more behind on
their mortgage payments rose to 5.22 percent for the first three months
of the year, TransUnion said. That’s 62 percent higher than the 3.23
percent delinquency rate for the first quarter of 2008.

The TransUnion numbers show a smaller percentage
of people behind on their payments than recently released data from the
Mortgage Bankers Association, which said 12 percent of mortgage holders
were past due in the first quarter.

TransUnion tracks delinquencies based on two
skipped payments because that’s a strong predictor of foreclosure, said
Keith Carson, a senior consultant in TransUnion’s financial services
group. “The reality is if you send in your mortgage payment and it’s
four days late, that’s past due,” he said. “The 60-day number we feel
is more significant.”

“Coming up with two house payments at once is pretty difficult for most families,” Carson observed.

Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California continue
to be the hardest-hit states, while North and South Dakota, Alaska and
Wyoming remain the states with the lowest delinquency rates.

Hawaii saw the biggest increase in delinquencies
from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009, with a
35.5 percent jump. Carson said that increase likely reflects the impact
the recession is having on tourism in the Aloha State. Hawaii’s
unemployment rate jumped from 5.1 percent in December to 7.1 percent in
March, according to the federal Department of Labor.

If there is any positive news coming out of
TransUnion data for the first quarter, Carson said it’s that the rate
of increase for mortgage delinquencies is slowing a bit. Combined with
a big jump in consumer confidence last month, there are some signs
things are improving.

However, he said if unemployment continues to
rise, another wave of mortgage problems could follow. TransUnion
currently predicts that about 7 percent of mortgages will be at least
two months behind payments by the end of the year.

While delinquencies rose in the first quarter, so
did the average amount of mortgage debt per borrower, TransUnion data
showed. The average reached $195,500, up about 2 percent from $191,917
last year. That may reflect people taking advantage of the depressed
market to upgrade to larger homes, he said, along with seasonal shifts.
More homes are sold in the March to August period because families tend
to avoid moving during the school year.

TransUnion delinquency data is culled from its database of 27 million consumer records.
   
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

LOS
ANGELES (AP) — The median home price in California jumped 7 percent
last month from May, as life began to return to the long-sluggish
market for high-end homes, a tracking firm said Thursday.

The statewide median price jumped to $246,000, up
from $230,000 in May, marking the second consecutive month of
increases, MDA DataQuick said.

Last month’s figure, however, was down 25 percent from $328,000 in June 2008.

DataQuick also said 44,167 homes were sold
statewide last month, up more than 13 percent from 39,051 in May and
nearly 26 percent from 35,202 in June 2008. The figures marked the 12th
consecutive month that sales have increased on a year-over-year basis,
the firm said.

DataQuick president John Walsh said thawing
credit markets were allowing more borrowers to close deals on homes,
especially in higher-end neighborhoods where sales have been slow.

“We’re just now seeing the beginnings of more
normal mortgage lending patterns,” he said. “There’s still a long way
to go, but it looks like the worst of the grind is over.”

In a nine-county area of Northern California, the
median home price increased more than 3 percent, reaching $352,000 in
June from $341,500 in May. It was the third month in a row that prices
increased.

DataQuick said 8,644 homes were sold in that
region in June, the highest monthly number in almost three years. The
figure was up more than 16 percent from 7,447 in May and more than 20
percent from 7,178 in June 2008.

In Southern California, the median price surged
more than 6 percent to $265,000 in June from May. Home sales in the
six-county area climbed to their highest level in 30 months.

Foreclosures statewide accounted for about 46
percent of home sales, making June the first month since August that
foreclosures accounted for less than half of all the transactions.
   
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.