this number 9% seemed unbelieveable to me, so I did a quick google search and found that the delinquency rate during 1999 was 4.1%-so this represents roughly a doubling from that level.
4.1% delinquencies in 1999 seems crazy to me also, way too high for an economic boom period, and it actually makes today's delinquencies seem LOW! Because I would have expected at least triple the foreclosures now vs then.
And why is this number seasonally adjusted?
Deliquent mortgage payments drop
Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jun 21, 1999
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of Americans behind on mortgage payments declined to the lowest level in four years during the first three months of 1999.
Plentiful jobs and low interest rates have been helping consumers keep up with payments on new and refinanced loans.
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Deliquent mortgage payments drop
"The delinquency situation has benefited from a sustained refinancing boom and record levels of home sales during the past year," said Paul Reid, executive vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. Mortgage delinquencies fell to a seasonally adjusted 4.13 percent in the January-March quarter, down from 4.26 percent during the fourth quarter of 1998, the association said Friday. That's the lowest delinquency rate since the first quarter of 1995. The rate was 4.42 percent during the January-March period last year. However, the percentage of loans in foreclosure at the end of the first quarter of this year increased slightly to 1.16 percent from 1.11 percent at the end of 1998. Delinquencies declined in three regions and increased in one during the first quarter. They fell to 4.93 percent from 5.13 percent in the South, to 3.61 from 3.75 in the West, and to 3.97 from 4.04 in the Northeast. The delinquency rate in the Midwest rose to 3.72 from 3.65. A streak of unusually low mortgage rates -- below 7 percent -- that began last summer persisted into the early months of this year, helping to fuel a record home- buying boom and encouraging those already owning homes to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. |
