Americans 50 years old or older make up nearly a third of all mortgage delinquencies according to a new report from AARP Public Policy Institute. Of the 684,000 older American homeowners in delinquency, 50,000 were in foreclosure or had already lost their homes.
Older African Americans are overrepresented among the foreclosures, holding just 6.8% of all the first mortgages held by those aged 50 or older but representing 14.4% of those experiencing foreclosure. Similarly, Hispanics hold 7.5 percent of the first mortgages but just 15.9% of all foreclosures in this age group.
While all Americans aged 50 and older made up 28% of all delinquencies and 25% of all foreclosures in the data, they hold 41% percent of all first mortgages, and therefore are actually slightly less likely than younger Americans to be in trouble with their mortgages. However, older homeowners with subprime mortgages and loan to value ratios of over 100%, two indicators of trouble, see their chances of delinquency and foreclosure increased more than their younger counterparts.
The report uses December 2007 data from the credit reporting bureau Experian to offer what it claims to be the first ever analysis of the mortgage crisis by age base.
The report can be found at: www.aarp.org/research/credit-debt/mortgages/i9_mortgage.html.