Over 1 Million Forclosed Homes!

More than one million homes are now in foreclosure, the highest rate ever recorded, according to a trade group which warned Thursday that the crisis will continue to worsen. The Mortgage Bankers Association's first quarter report showed that a record 2.5% of all home loans being serviced by its members are now in foreclosure, which works out to about 1.1 million homes. That's up from the 2% of loans, or about 938,000 homes, that were in foreclosure at the end of 2007. The report also showed that 448,000 homes, or about 1% of loans being serviced, began the foreclosure process during the first quarter. That's up from about 382,000 homes, or 0.83%, that entered foreclosure in the last three months of 2007. The number of homeowners behind on their mortgage payments also hit a record high. Nearly 3 million home loans are now at least one payment past due, while about 737,000 are at least three months past due but not yet in foreclos ure. This marks the sixth straight quarter in which a record percentage of loans went into foreclosure. The trend has led to a widespread decline in home prices, as well as huge losses for banks and other financial firms that issued or invested in the loans. Source: CNN/Money