Mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures break records

By ALAN ZIBEL AP Real Estate Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of homeowners who missed at least one payment on their mortgage surged to a record in the first quarter of the year, a sign that the foreclosure crisis could worsen.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says more than 10 percent of homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment in the January-March period. That number was up from 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 9.1 percent a year earlier. Those numbers are adjusted for seasonal factors.

More than 4.6 percent of homeowners were in foreclosure, also a record. But that number was up only slightly from the end of last year.