Fewer Utah homeowners found themselves facing foreclosure in first quarter, mirroring a national trend of falling foreclosure rates.
Of the nearly 360,000 mortgage loans serviced in Utah for the three months ended March 31, just 1.33 percent were in foreclosure, the lowest rate since the fourth quarter of 2000 and down from 1.80 percent in the 2004 first quarter, according to a quarterly national delinquency survey released Tuesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
Utah's foreclosure rate in first quarter ranked 13th-highest in the nation, an improvement from previous quarters when the state rated among the highest rates in the country. Yet the state's average still is higher than the national rate of 1.08 percent.
Ohio had the highest percent of loans in foreclosure at 3.37 percent. California showed the lowest at 0.2 percent.
The five-state Pacific region — including Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — showed the lowest overall regional foreclosure rate at 0.31 percent.
The five-state East North Central region — comprising Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin — had the highest rate at 2.08 percent.
Utah's delinquency rate — mortgage loans 30 days or more past due — declined to 4 percent in first quarter, down from 4.62 percent in the fourth quarter and also a decline from 4.4 percent during the first quarter of 2004.
For the first time, the MBA survey in the first quarter measured serious delinquent loans — defined as the percentage of loans that are 90 days or more delinquent or in the process of foreclosure.
In Utah, serious delinquent loans were at 2.31 percent. Across the nation, 15 other states ranked higher in the percentage of serious delinquent loans.
Utah economists have attributed the state's falling foreclosure rate to strong economic performance and rising real estate values.
Yet Utahns holding subprime mortgages were more likely to enter foreclosure. Of nearly 40,000 subprime loans serviced in Utah in the first quarter, the foreclosure rate reached 4.11 percent, nearly three times higher than the overall state average of all loans serviced.
Nationally, the foreclosure rate of 1.08 percent in the first quarter was down from 1.27 percent.
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