The First American data show that in January payments were at least 60 days late on 14.3% of "subprime" loans that had been packaged into securities, up from 13.4% in December and 8.4% in January 2006. Subprime loans are those made to borrowers with weak credit records or large debts in relation to their incomes.
For Alt-A loans -- a category between prime and subprime that includes many loans that don't require full documentation of the borrower's income or assets -- the late-payment figure rose to 2.6% in January from 2.3% in December and 1.3% in January 2006.
Here's the graph from the article:
The news from housing continues to deteriorate. Inventories are very high, especially by historical standards. Household debt levels are high by historical and GDP/disposable income measures. Now we have delinquencies increasing -- again.
