The number of people who cannot pay their mortgages is spiking up.
According to the FT, “The percentage of loans that were in foreclosure or at least one payment past due rose to 11.93 per cent in the fourth quarter, the highest since the MBA began keeping records in 1972 and a jump of almost 2 percentage points since the third quarter.”
Despite the Administration’s new mortgage rescue plan, the figure is likely to go higher. More people will lose jobs. More homeowners will find that their home loans are much larger than the equity of their houses. As home prices fall, that ratio will get even worse.
No matter how much assistance goes into the system to help “worthy” people keep their houses, the number of people who cannot wait to turn in the keys or have lost work will continue to rise.
