Foreclosure starts jump in first quarter

WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- Mortgage researchers said Thursday the rate of U.S. foreclosure starts hit a record in the first quarter of 2008.

Mortgages with foreclosure proceedings initiated in the first quarter soared to 0.99 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

The previous record, based on records going back to 1979, was 0.83 percent, set in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Delinquency rates -- loans at least one payment past due -- on one-to-four unit properties also jumped in the first quarter, hitting 6.35 percent, up from 5.82 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, the MBA said.

MBA Vice President for Research and Economics Jay Brinkmann said the rising rates were "clearly driven by certain loan types."

"For example, while subprime ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages) represent 6 percent of the loans outstanding, they represented 39 percent of the foreclosures started during the first quarter," Brinkmann said.

Prime ARMs account for 15 percent of the loans outstanding "but 23 percent of the foreclosures started," Brinkmann said.