Arizona and California Delinquency Rates Improve Most in Q2: Report

Along with second quarter decreases for the national mortgage delinquency rate came significant improvements for hard-hit states California and Arizona, according to a ""TransUnion"":http://www.transunion.com/ report.

[IMAGE]

The national mortgage delinquency rate - the rate of borrowers 60 or more days past due - slipped for second straight quarter, falling to 5.49 percent in the second quarter of this year from 5.78 percent in the previous quarter.

Arizona and California saw the greatest year-over-year declines, each falling around 21 percent from the second quarter of 2011.

For California, the delinquency rate is now at 7.83 percent and Arizona has a rate of 7.78 percent. Both states came down from double-digit delinquency rates they had two years ago.

""While it is a positive sign to see mortgage delinquency rates decrease, meaning more and more homeowners were able to make their mortgage payments, the rate of the decline is still not at a pace that will push levels significantly closer to pre-recession norms,"" said Tim Martin, group VP of U.S. Housing in TransUnion's financial services business unit.

Martin said more improvement is expected in the third quarter with the help of a few months of relatively good news on home prices, the resurgence in refinance activity related to HARP 2.0, and record low mortgage interest rates.

Florida and Nevada held top spots for the highest delinquency rates, 13.48 percent and 10.85 percent, respectively. North Dakota (1.32 percent) and South Dakota (1.94 percent) stayed in the low single digit territory and had the lowest rates.

For metropolitan areas, 76 percent saw improvements in their delinquency rates in the second quarter, up from 73 percent in the first quarter and 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.