Five years after the end of the U.S. recession, the
number of Americans who are behind on their mortgages and the backlog of homes
in the foreclosure process are finally narrowing to prerecession levels. The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate—loans that are a payment or more behind but not yet in foreclosure—fell to 6.39% of loans in the fourth quarter of 2013, down from 7.09% a year ago and the lowest rate since the early months of recession in the first quarter of 2008, according to a report Thursday by the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Foreclosures are down partly because the economy and unemployment rate have improved. Also, banks have reined in many of the looser lending practices that allowed many borrowers to get in over their head.
The boost in home prices, which began about two years ago in many parts of the country, also helped. Overall prices in December were 8.4% higher than one year earlier, according to Black Knight Financial Services, formerly LPS.
Original Wall Street Journal article here.
Rahul and Smitha Ramchandani are a licensed real estate Broker-Salesperson/Sales Representative Team with Keller Williams in New Jersey. They are Buyer Specialists and Home Marketing Experts. You can reach Rahul and Smitha and their team online at: http://www.Morris-Homes.com, http://www.SRRealEstateGroup.com and http://www.TheTownhouseExpert.com.
Their team specialize in North Central New Jersey including towns such as Boonton, Chatham, Madison,Chester,Convent Station, Denville, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Harding Twp., Mendham, Montville, Morristown,Morris Plains,Morris Twp., Mountain Lakes, Parsippany, Randolph, Rockaway, Whippany.
