U.S. loan foreclosures set record

CHICAGO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. loan foreclosures set a record in the third quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday in its quarterly delinquency survey.

The rate of loans entering foreclosure was a seasonally adjusted 0.78 percent of all loans on one- to four-unit residential properties, up from 0.65 percent in the second quarter, MarketWatch said in a Chicago report.

The rate is up from 0.46 percent a year ago, MBA statistics indicate.

The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process somewhere along the way was 1.69 percent of all outstanding loans, up from 1.4 percent in the second quarter.

Florida and California have the most outstanding mortgages, the MBA said.

Doug Duncan, the MBA chief economist, told reporters he estimates a total of 1.5 million foreclosure starts for all of 2007, up from 960,000 in 2006 and 704,000 in 2005.