WASHINGTON - Late mortgage payments jumped sharply in the third quarter as Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on Gulf Coast communities.
The percentage of mortgage payments that were 30 or more days past due for all loans surveyed climbed to 4.44 percent in the July-to-September quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Wednesday in its quarterly survey of mortgage conditions.
That was up considerably from the prior quarter's4.34 percent delinquency rate and was the highest registered in a year.
The association's survey covers 40.7 million loans.
If Katrina had bypassed the United States, the third quarter's delinquency rate would have dipped to 4.21 percent, showing an improvement from the prior quarter, the association said.
