Home foreclosures set record in first quarter

[Fleshdancer]

:( first the news of Continental Airlines cutting 3K jobs and now this.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080605/home_foreclosures.html?.v=6

Home foreclosures set record in first quarter

Thursday June 5, 12:10 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
Home foreclosures, late payments set records in first quarter of 2008


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home foreclosures and late payments set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, stark signs of the housing crisis' mounting damage to homeowners and the economy.

The latest snapshot of the mortgage market, released Thursday, showed that the proportion of mortgages that fell into foreclosure soared to 0.99 percent in the January-through-March period. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007.

The report by the Mortgage Bankers Association also found that more homeowners slipped behind on their monthly payments.

The delinquency rate jumped to 6.35 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.82 percent for the three months earlier. Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due.