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Real estate-related debts are on the decline, as are overall delinquencies, according to a quarterly report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
[IMAGE]Debt maintained through mortgages and home equity lines of credit (HELOC) declined $146 billion during the fourth quarter of last year. Mortgages made up a majority of the decline â€" $134 billion â€" while HELOCs made up the remaining $12 billion.
Mortgage debt is now 11 percent below its peak, while HELOC debt is now 11.7 percent below its peak.
Also in the fourth quarter, the delinquency rate on consumer debt was reduced from 10 percent to 9.8 percent.
About $1.12 trillion of the total $11.53 trillion in consumer debt was delinquent. About $824 billion in debt was seriously delinquent (90 or more days past due).
While overall delinquency declined, about 2.2 percent of mortgage loans became delinquent in the last quarter of the year.
Foreclosures increased 9.5 percent over the quarter as 289,000 homes received foreclosure filings. However, the foreclosure rate is still 35.3 percent below the level recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Also, despite the rise in foreclosure filings, the rate of loans that became seriously delinquent declined, corresponding with a rising cure rate, which reached 27.2 percent at the end of last year.
""Overall it appears that delinquency rates are stabilizing at levels that remain significantly higher than pre-crisis levels,"" said Andrew Haughwout, VP and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
