WASHINGTON, DC-A joint report by the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), Urban Institute and the Center for Housing Policy shows that serious delinquency rates for mortgages--those 90 days past due--are continuing to stabilize in the largest 100 cities in the US. However they remain at historically high levels. The data comes from the Foreclosure-Response.org project, compiled by the three organizations.

“This release confirms trends that we started to see over last couple of quarters,” Maya Brennan, senior research associate with Center for Housing Policy, tells GlobeSt.com. “The serious delinquencies have stabilized in general but the foreclosure component of that keeps going up and that is mainly because in many cases people are staying in foreclosure for a long time,” she adds. “There are just so many delays built into state foreclosure processes.”

According to the report, serious delinquency fell 10% from the peak in December 2009 through March 2011. The share of homes in foreclosure, though, increased by 12% in the 15-month period from the peak to the most recent data collection.

Unfortunately, foreclosure processes in states vary, sometimes wildly, making it difficult to come to standardized conclusions about what is happening, the research also found. “In some states, foreclosure processes are excessively slow, while in others they are too rapid,” said Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Center, in a prepared statement. “Waiting too long to finalize a foreclosure prolongs recovery for borrowers and neighborhoods, but pursuing foreclosures too quickly shuts down real opportunities to save homes. Both trends contribute to the destabilization of communities.”

Indeed, since the national peak in December 2009, just 12 of the country's 100 largest metro areas saw the serious delinquency rate increase--five of which are in New York, the state with the longest foreclosure process. This suggests that the increases may be the result of loans lingering in foreclosure for an extended period of time. Other large metro areas where serious delinquencies rose include Seattle; Portland, ME; Portland, OR; Madison, WI; Philadelphia, PA; Tulsa, OK; and Bridgeport, CT.

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