mortgage delinquencies

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s quarterly survey found that one in seven homeowners are either late on their payments or are already in foreclusure.

The good news is that the pace at which people fell behind on their mortgages slowed during the summer for the third quarter in a row.

The bad news is the overall delinquency rate hit another record.

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The number of people who were late making their mortgage payments shot up 53 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from the same period in 2007, according to data provided by TransUnion LLC.

The rate at which people are falling behind on their mortgage payments went up for the ninth straight quarter in the first three months of 2009, and is expected to keep rising through the end of the year, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion.

New U.S. home sales were almost flat last month, indicating that the housing market's recovery will likely be a slow and gradual process.