mortgage payment surged to a record in the first quarter of the year, a
sign that the foreclosure crisis is far from over.

More than 10 percent of homeowners had
missed at least one mortgage payment in the January-March period, the
Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. That number was up from
9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and 9.1 percent a year
earlier.

Those figures are adjusted for seasonal
factors. For example, heating bills and holiday expenses tend to push up
mortgage delinquencies near the end of the year. Many of those
borrowers become current on their loans again by spring.

Without adjusting for seasonal factors,
the delinquency numbers dropped, as they normally do from the winter to
spring.

More than 4.6 percent of homeowners were
in foreclosure, also a record. But that number, which is not adjusted
for seasonal factors, was up only slightly from the end of last year.

Stocks slid Wednesday as investors remain
concerned with the European debt crisis. The rising number of mortgages
also drew some attention. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more
than 160 points in early trading.

Jay Brinkmann, the trade group's chief
economist, said the foreclosure crisis appears to have stabilized.
Seasonal adjustments may be exaggerating the change from the previous
quarter, he added.

"I don't see signs now that it's getting
worse, but it's going to take a while," he said. "A bad situation that's
not getting worse is still bad."

The number of American homeowners who have
missed at least three months of payments or are in foreclosure has
surged to around 4.3 million, Brinkmann estimated.

The Obama administration's $75 billion
foreclosure prevention program has barely dented the problem. More than
299,000 homeowners had received permanent loan modifications as of last
month. That's about 25 percent of the 1.2 million who started the
program since its March 2009 launch.

About 277,000 homeowners, or 23 percent of
those enrolled, have dropped out during a trial phase that lasts at
least three months.

Economic woes, such as unemployment or
reduced income, are the main catalysts for foreclosures this year.
Initially, lax lending standards were the culprit. But homeowners with
good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are now the fastest
growing group of foreclosures.

Those borrowers made up nearly 37 percent
of new foreclosures in the first quarter of the year, up from 29 percent
a year earlier.

The risky subprime adjustable-rate loans that kicked off the foreclosure crisis are making up a smaller share of new foreclosures. They made up
14 percent of new foreclosures in the January-March period, down from 27
percent a year earlier.

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