Last Thursday, the Mortgage Bankers Association released their National Delinquency Report. This report shows that over 11% of all mortgages are delinquent or in foreclosure.

The figure of those at least one month behind on payments, but not yet to the level of foreclosure, rose almost 8% in the 4^th quarter of 2008. The chief economist for the MBA, Jay Brinkmann, stated that "Subprime ARM loans and prime ARM loans, which include Alt-A and pay-option ARMs, continue to dominate the delinquency numbers,...Nationwide, 48% of subprime ARMs were at least one payment past due, and in Florida over 60% of subprime ARMs were at least one payment past due."

In regards to foreclosure, the amount of homes in processing rose to 3.3%, which is a 0.33 percentage point increase from the previous quarter and 1.26 percentage points from the year before. Based on the new numbers, almost 1.5 million homes could end up being foreclosed.

Of course, just entering the foreclosure process, does not mean the homes will be closed upon quickly. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had halted on foreclosure sales in late November, due to the then upcoming holidays and that the legal staff was already stretched on working on the current foreclosures at hand. This can explain why the amount of loans that are over 90 days overdue have went from 2.2% to 3% in only one quarter. These are loans that should have been taken care of by foreclosing, but are currently still at a stall in the system.

While it is hoped that Obama´s foreclosure prevention program will help through refinancing and loan modifications, many still fear that it is not enough. Brinkmann remarked that "The delinquency rates continue to climb across the board for prime fixed-rate and subprime fixed-rate loans - loans whose performance is driven by the loss of jobs or income rather than changes in payments,". Refinancing or loan modification may not help those who cannot find work at all. Brinkmann likened it to a cycle: late payments lead to a slower economy which leads to job losses, and then to even later payments. He does not feel that more positive figures will be seen until the end of the year, if there is an employment increase in 2010, which will slowly lead to less delinquency rates.