One out of eight households has ended up in foreclosure or have fallen behind on their mortgage payments during the first quarter of the year. With the increase of unemployment it is expected that foreclosures will continue for at least another year. Until the unemployment rates peak then foreclosures will continue. In April the unemployment reached its highest rate ever and it is still rising.

Subprime and adjustable loans are not the only type of mortgages causing problems among homeowners. Prime fixed rate mortgages make up 65 percent of the homeowners that have gone into foreclosure. There have been 12 percent of foreclosed homeowners that fell at least one payment behind. Foreclosure action started on almost 1.5 percent of first mortgages.

Overall, mortgage loans rose nearly 4 percent. In California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona made up nearly half of all of the foreclosure activity across the country. These four states had the highest numbers when it came to purchases during the real estate boom. Since many homeowners fell into the trap of the getting subprime and adjustable loans they managed to fall into foreclosure. Some were able to get refinanced or have their loan modified, but still ended up in foreclosure since they lost their jobs.