I see a bad moon rising

WSJ: Mortgage delinquencies soar.  One in 7 of all mortgages, from 1 in 10 last year, and last year was not so hot.

About one in seven American households with mortgages is behind on payments or in foreclosure, according to new data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. That is up from about one in 10 a year ago.

The trade group reported Thursday that 14.4% of first-lien mortgages on one- to four-family homes in the third quarter were 30 days or more overdue or in the foreclosure process. That is the highest since the MBA began reporting such data in 1972 and works out to about 7.5 million households at risk of losing their homes. The percentage is up from 10% a year earlier and 7.3% two years ago.

Loan defaults have been rising swiftly for more than three years. At first, the problem largely reflected loose lending practices during the housing boom that allowed millions of people to buy homes they couldn’t afford. Now the problem is compounded by rising unemployment, which hit 10.2% in October, the highest since 1982.

About 7.8% of prime fixed-rate loans were overdue or in foreclosure in the latest quarter. For prime adjustable-rate loans—including “pay-option” loans that let borrowers start out with very low payments and face much higher ones later—the rate was 23%. The rate was 53% for subprime adjustable-rate loans and 18% for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

Separately, First American CoreLogic, a research firm, said its national home-price index in September was down 9.8% from a year earlier. The index nearly doubled between January 2000 and April 2006 and has since dropped about 30%.

UPDATE: A friend sends this link to Calculated Risk which is gloomier, if possible. With color charts to liven things up!

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