Home foreclosure rates increased in Iowa again in the first quarter, with just over two-percent of Iowa home mortgages in foreclosure in the first three months of the year. That is higher than the last quarter of 2008 and higher than the same period a year ago.
But Ben Hildebrandt of the Iowa Bankers Association says the number of homeowners who’re falling behind on their mortgage payments seems to be stabilizing.
"Overall, the numbers are encouraging because 30-day and 60-day delinquencies are trending down," Hildebrand says. Foreclosure and delinquency rates in Iowa continue to be well under the national rate.
Hildebrandt cites the Obama Administration’s loan modification program and the moratorium on home foreclosures in late 2008 and early 2009 as factors in reducing foreclosure rates on home loans.
"The number of 30 days or more past due is declining not only in Iowa but across the entire country, and so we think that hopefully as the economy’s turning, so are situations with 30-day, 60-day, 90-day past due (loans)," Hildebrandt says.
New figures from the Mortgage Bankers Association show Iowa’s foreclosure rate was over 2.3% in the first quarter. And more than 5% of Iowa home mortgages were delinquent in the first quarter.