NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home foreclosures and the rate of homes entering the foreclosure process rose to record highs in the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Friday.

"The national foreclosure numbers continue to be driven by the hardest-hit states continuing to get much worse," Jay Brinkmann, MBA's chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics, said in a press release.

The increases in foreclosures in California and Florida overwhelmed improvements in states such as Texas, Massachusetts and Maryland, he said.

The seasonally adjusted foreclosure starts rate, the percentage of loans that entered the foreclosure process during the April-June quarter, was 1.19 percent, up from 0.99 percent in the first three months of 2008 and 0.65 percent in the second quarter of 2007.

The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate of 6.41 percent was the highest since at least 1979, which was when the trade group began its current method of measuring failing home loans.

(Reporting by Julie Haviv; Editing by Tom Hals)

  Add comment

Name:
E-Mail:
Comment:
Enter code: