Job scarcity puts more at risk for foreclosure

August 27, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The jobs crisis is putting more Americans at risk of losing their homes.

One in 10 households has missed at least one mortgage payment, and more than 2 million homes have been repossessed since the recession began. Few expect the outlook to improve until companies start to hire steadily again and layoffs ease.

And though there was some good news Thursday — a modest decrease in the number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the first time in a month — the figure is still too high to bring down the unemployment rate.

So the housing crisis goes on, even though the average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell again this week to an all-time low of 4.36 percent.

“Ultimately, the housing story, whether it is delinquencies, homes sales or housing starts, is an employment story,” said Jay Brinkmann, the top economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.

It’s just one of the problems confronting Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke as he speaks today at a closely watched conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The Fed mostly has exhausted its ammo to give the economy a jolt.

Just under 10 percent of homeowners are delinquent on at least one mortgage payment as of June 30, according to a quarterly report on delinquencies released by Brinkmann’s trade group. That’s more than double the level before the recession.