By Nick Timiraos at the Wall Street Journal – July 26th

After rising in May, the rate of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures fell in June.

Some 9.39% of all loans were 30 days or more past due, down from 9.54% in May, according to LPS Applied Analytics, which tracks loan data. An additional 3.69% of mortgages were in some stage of foreclosure, down from 3.72% in May and the record high of 3.81% in March.

The ratio of loans that were seriously delinquent, or 90 days or more past due, to the amount of loans in foreclosure still shows a sizeable overhang but fell for the second straight month, to levels last seen last September. The fact that there are still more than double the number of delinquent loans than loans in foreclosure suggests that the glut of bank-owned properties will continue to weigh on housing markets for many months to come.

Foreclosure starts increased sharply during the month on loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as more government loan-modification trials failed to convert to permanent modifications. On Friday, Freddie said that its share of seriously delinquent loans fell for the fourth straight month, to 3.96% in June.

Separately, the S&P/Experian index of consumer credit defaults showed that that mortgage defaults were down by 5% in June from May, and down by 45% from one year ago. Second mortgage defaults were flat from one month earlier.

Data from Equifax and Moody’s Economy.com showed that mortgage delinquencies had the largest increase in San Diego; Sacramento, Calif.; and Charlotte, N.C. during the second quarter.

For the year ended in June, delinquencies were up most sharply in Phoenix, Seattle, and Charlotte, while St. Louis, Washington, and Denver posted the largest declines.

While I think that this is a great article, I believe personally that his numbers fall short. There are far more than 9.39% of all mortgages that are currently delinquent. I’m curious… what are your thoughts about the state of affairs and where the market is headed?