Report: Nevada leads in home-loan delinquencies

By Steve Green

Monday, June 1, 2009 | 8:26 a.m.

Another report Monday confirmed Nevada continues to lead the nation in home-loan delinquencies, with job losses locally offering little hope for improvement anytime soon.

Credit report compiler TransUnion.com of Chicago released its analysis of the mortgage industry, which found that nationwide, the percentage of real estate borrowers 60 or more days past due increased for the ninth straight quarter, hitting 5.22 percent for the first quarter of 2009.

Traditionally seen as a precursor to foreclosures, this statistic is up almost 14 percent from the previous quarter's 4.58 percent.

Mortgage borrower delinquency rates in the first quarter of 2009 were highest in Nevada (11.61 percent) and Florida (11.01 percent). The three areas showing the greatest percentage growth in delinquency from the previous quarter were Hawaii (34.4 percent), Oregon (30.7 percent) and Nevada (28.9 percent).

"Credit performance generally lags economic conditions. Thus although there have been some pockets of promising news on the economic front, we see unemployment and deflated housing prices continuing to pushing up delinquency rates through the remainder of this year. At this juncture it is difficult to predict with any certainty what impact, if any, the various government initiatives will have on the mortgage delinquency," Keith Carson, a senior consultant in TransUnion's financial services group, said in a statement.

Lower housing valuations in some cases are leading to foreclosures as consumers abandon loans that are under water -- meaning they owe more than their home is worth.

Today's news followed three reports issued last week showing:

--Nevada led the nation in the initiation of foreclosure actions in the first quarter, with the situation unlikely to quickly rebound because of Las Vegas's 10.4 percent unemployment rate in April. The Mortgage Bankers Association said that in the first three months of this year, foreclosure actions were started on 3.4 percent of the mortgages in Nevada.

--The Las Vegas area continues a painful correction from the over-heated market that had its origins in the easy-money days of the early and mid 2000s. The Standard & Poor's S&P/Case Shiller Home Price index found home prices in Las Vegas fell 3.8 percent from February to March.

--Confirming this, Nevada led the nation in home price declines between March 2008 and March 2009, with prices in the Silver State falling 31.1 percent. For the first quarter of 2009, Nevada prices fell 10.56 percent, the Federal Housing Finance Agency reported.