Fewer Arizona Homeowners Falling Behind...

Fewer Ariz. homeowners falling behind, from the Arizona
Republic, reports that mortgage delinquencies across Arizona dropped to 3
percent at the end of March from 3.51 percent at the end of 2006, according
to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, a sign that the housing
market may be on the rebound. Nationally, the delinquency rate fell to 4.84
percent, from 4.95 percent. "It's one less black cloud over Phoenix's
housing market," said Jay Butler, director of Realty Studies at ASU. "But it
will take a couple of quarters of lower delinquency rates and inventories of
homes for sale to see if the market is turning," he added. Arizona's
foreclosure rate climbed from 0.76 percent of all loans at the end of 2006
to 0.95 percent of all loans at the end of March. The state's overall rate
is still low compared with the rest of the country, but the recent increase
signals several more thousand people are about to lose their homes. Many of
the current delinquency and foreclosure problems can be traced to the
investor speculation that occurred during the frenzy of 2004 and 2005.



http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0615deliquencies0615.