The rate of late mortgage payments dropped in the first quarter for the first time since 2006, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion. The 60-day delinquency rate, considered an indicator of future foreclosures, slipped to 6.8 percent, from 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. That was the first decline after 12 consecutive quarters of steady increases, TransUnion said.
In the Lehigh Valley, the first quarter mortgage delinquency rate was 6 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter. That's below the national rate but higher than Pennsylvania's rate of 4.6 percent.
TransUnion measures the rate using mortgage payments that are 60 days late, or two skipped months. The figure is considered an important indicator of likely foreclosure, because of the difficulty someone in financial distress would have coming up with three payments to bring their mortgage current.
Historically, mortgage delinquencies hovered around 1.5 or 2 percent.
