Non Owner Occupied Houses Make Up Big Chunk Of Foreclosures, Says MBA

The Wall Street Journal reports:

• "Investors played a big role in pumping up home prices during the housing boom. Now, they account for an outsize proportion of loan defaults, mortgage bankers and builders say. A survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that mortgages on properties that aren't occupied by the owner -- mostly investment homes -- account for between 21% and 32% of the defaults on prime-quality home loans in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, states where overdue payments are mounting fast. [...] When the market was hot, many speculators bought homes hoping to flip them for a quick profit. But now that home prices have turned lower, that strategy is backfiring. As a result, some investors have 'simply walked away from their mortgages' ... ."

For more, see Investors Default On Outsize Share Of Home Loans.

Go here for posts on landlords,investors and others cutting their losses when being "upside down" on their mortgages through equity skimming, where the property owner begins stiffing the mortgage lender on the mortgage payments while renting the home out and pocketing the tenant rentals until the property is sold in a foreclosure or trustee's sale.