FORT WAYNE, Indiana (Indiana's NewsCenter)--A mortgage industry group says Ohio is among a
handful of states where the nation's foreclosure problem remains
concentrated.
The Mortgage Bankers Association says a record 9 percent of
American homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on payments
or in foreclosure at the end of June.
The association says Ohio is among eight states where new
foreclosures are most common. That stands to reason, since Ohio is
among the eight most populous states.
The troubles in the mortgage market are worst in California and
Florida. Both those states have larger populations than Ohio.
A drop in income - whether through a lost job, divorce, death of
a spouse or a health problem - is the No. 1 reason people fall
beyond on their mortgages and lose their homes.
In Ohio, about 18 percent of the state's 207,000 subprime loans
were past-due in the April-June period and nearly 14 percent were
in foreclosure. Among prime-loan mortgages offered to buyers with
the best credit, 4 percent of 1.1 million loans were past-due and 2
percent were in foreclosure.