AP: Nation's foreclosures break record

Home foreclosures and late payments across the nation set records over the first three months of the year and are expected to keep rising, AP is reporting.

The report says:

The latest snapshot of the mortgage market, released Thursday, showed that the proportion of mortgages that fell into foreclosure soared to 0.99 percent in the January-through-March period. That surpassed the previous high of 0.83 percent over the last three months in 2007. The report by the Mortgage Bankers Association also found that more homeowners slipped behind on their monthly payments. The delinquency rate jumped to 6.35 percent in the first quarter, compared with 5.82 percent for the three months earlier. Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due. Both the rate of new foreclosures and late payments were the highest on record going back to 1979.

The report goes on to say that California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona account for 89 percent of the total increase in new home foreclosures. Those are all areas that were experiencing high growth and rapid escalation in home prices before the housing bubble popped.

It is unclear how New Mexico is faring in foreclosures or the delinquency rate. But it's a sign that the economy is still in bad shape and won't give up its frontrunner status as the issue most on Americans' minds during this election season.

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