More Bad News in Housing

I'm starting to sound like a broken record. At this point, I'd happy if mortgage troubles just remained steady, but since last summer, every quarter has gotten worse. According the Mortgage Bankers Association, first quarter highlights include:

• Delinquencies are 6.35% of outstanding mortgages, up from 5.82% Q4 (2007), and up from 1.51% Q1 (2007).
• Foreclosures are 2.47% of outstanding mortgages, up from 2.04% Q4 (2007), and up from 1.28% Q1(2007).

And it looks like the problem is moving into prime borrowers as well, consisting of 40% of foreclosures. Another ominous sign is that 7% of the foreclosures were FHA mortgages, which are guaranteed by the federal government.