U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Rise to 20-Year High (Update4)

The figure of Americans who fell
behind on their mortgage payments rose to a 20-year high in the
third one-fourth as borrowers were not able to refinance or sell
their homes.

The share of all place loans with payments more than 30 days
late, including premier and fixed-rate loans, rose to a seasonally
adjusted 5.59 percent, the peak since 1986, the Mortgage
Bankers Association said in a study today. New foreclosures hit
an all-time high for the 2nd sequent one-fourth in a survey
that travels back to 1972.

The rush in foreclosures is expanding the stock list of
unsold places and contributing to the diminution in lodging demand. Gross Sales of new and previously owned places probably will drop to
5.09 million adjacent year, 32 percentage below the 2005 extremum of 7.46
million, according to Frank Nothaft, main economic expert of Freddie
Mac, the 2nd biggest U.S. mortgage buyer. About 40 percentage of
lenders have got increased criteria for their most creditworthy
borrowers, according to a Federal Soldier Modesty survey in October.

''These are the first Numbers we've seen that compound the
meltdown of the recognition marketplaces with the driblet in place prices,''
said John Jay Brinkmann, frailty president of research and economic science for
the Washington-based bankers trade group.

Shrub Plan

President Saint George W. Shrub and U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry
Paulson today announced a freezing on some subprime home-loan
rates aimed at helping borrowers who can't afford their
mortgages after they reset higher from low starter motor rates.

The understanding also lets some borrowers to refinance into
a new private mortgage or obtain a loan backed by the Federal
Housing Administration.

As the U.S. lodging slack comes in its 3rd year, investors
are shunning securities backed by mortgages, the top 15 U.S.
home detergent builders have got lost about $35 billion in marketplace value this
year, and the stock list of unsold houses have risen to almost an
11-month supply, the peak in 22 years.

One in every five adjustable-rate subprime loans had late
payments in the quarter, a figure that excepts the 1 of every
10 already in foreclosure, the bankers grouping said in their
report. Foreclosures started on all types of mortgages rose to
an all-time high of 0.78 percentage from 0.65 percent.

In the quarter, 3.12 percentage of premier borrowers made their
mortgage payments at least 30 years late, up from 2.73 percentage in
the 2nd quarter, the study said. The subprime share of late
payments rose to 16.3 percentage from 14.8 percent.

California, Sunshine State Lead

The Numbers were driven by California, the U.S.'s largest
state, and Florida, Brinkmann said. The two states had 36.4
percent of all of the nation's premier adjustable-rate loans and
had 42.4 percentage of new foreclosures during the quarter, he
said. They had 28.1 percentage of subprime adjustable mortgages and
33.7 percentage of foreclosure starts for that type of loan.

Sixty percentage of Banks said they tightened qualifications
for in October for so-called non-traditional mortgages such as as
interest-only loans, the Federal said.

Housing allows in the U.S. have got declined for five
consecutive months, falling to a 14-year low of 1.178 million at
an yearly gait in October, the Commerce Department said in a
Nov. Twenty report.

Gross Sales of previously owned places drop to a charge per unit of 4.97
million that month, the last in a survey that travels back to
1999, the National Association of Realtors said Nov. 28. The
inventory of single-family homes for sale increased to a 10.5
months' supply, the peak since July 1985.

Toll's Loss

The U.S. asset-backed commercial paper marketplace have shrunk
$394 billion, or 33 percent, since August. Debt maturing in 270
days or less and backed by mortgages, credit-card loans and
other retentions drop $23 billion, or 2.8 percent, to a seasonally
adjusted $801.2 billion for the hebdomad ended Dec. 5, the Federal
Reserve in American Capital said today.

Toll Brothers Inc., the biggest U.S. luxury-home builder,
today reported its first quarterly loss in 21 old age as fiscal
fourth one-fourth gross slid 35 percentage from a twelvemonth ago to $1.17
billion. Net income for the full financial twelvemonth plunged 95 percent
to $35.7 million, the last since 1993.

The Mortgage Bankers study is based on a study of 45.4
million loans by mortgage companies, commercial banks, thrifts,
credit labor unions and other fiscal institutions.

To reach the newsman on this story:
Kathleen M. Howley in Hub Of The Universe at .