Mortgage delinquency rate up in third quarter

The rate stood at 4.67 percent of all loans outstanding in the third quarter, up nearly three-tenths of a percent from the second quarter and more than two-tenths from a year earlier.

The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process was 1.05 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the third quarter, while the seasonally adjusted rate of loans entering the foreclosure process was 0.46 percent.

“The housing market continued to normalize in the third quarter of 2006,” said Doug Duncan, MBA’s chief economist and senior vice president of research and business development, in a news release. “Although labor markets remain strong, the pace of job growth has slowed, as has the home price appreciation rate, which has decreased in response to higher interest rates and rising inventories of unsold homes. Some states experienced home-price declines in the third quarter, and a few have experienced declines over the past six months.”