Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994 TAG: 9403120026
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
Every region in the nation registered improvements, although problems persisted in California, where the recession continues to batter much of the state containing 13 percent of the nation's housing loans.
Most regions also posted drops in the percentage of loans in foreclosure.
Nationally, the share of homeowners who were late on their mortgage payments dropped to 4.03 percent, according to a survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association released Friday.
That was down from 4.21 percent in the July-September quarter and 4.24 percent a year earlier. It was the lowest since the first quarter of 1973, when the rate was 3.89 percent. The rates were adjusted for seasonal variations.
"The surge in refinancing activity during the past two years has allowed homeowners to lower their debt burdens by exchanging more than $1 trillion of relatively high interest rate mortgages for lower interest rate mortgages," said Warren Lasko, the association's executive vice president.
Thirty-day delinquencies fell to 2.68 percent from 2.78 percent; 60-day delinquencies were down to 0.61 percent from 0.65 percent a year ago; 90-day delinquencies fell to 0.74 percent from 0.78 percent.
The delinquency rate for conventional loans was 2.48 percent, down from 2.68 percent in the third quarter. It rose to 6.22 percent from 6.17 percent for VA loans and to 7.21 percent from 7.03 percent for FHA loans.
- Associated Press
by CNB