I have to wonder if Maryland was just late to the housing bubble and will feel a California, Florida, and Nevada style housing depression in the coming months. Some of the graphs indicate we're a year behind what happened in other states. The density of risky loans is just as high here as it is in the hardest hit places. Perhaps a lot of the risky loans just haven't reset yet and the current delinquencies are just the tip of the iceberg.

BD, yes Maryland was late to the party.

Jamie, is there a statistic on the delinquencies that sorts them by loan origination (or refinance) date? And for that matter all mortgages?

The point I'm looking to make is that the older loans made before the run up in prices (post 2001?) should still represent significant enough equity that the owners have both much greater leverage in the market and motivation to avoid foreclosure.

Over the past several years, the "traditional" causes of foreclosure took a backseat to the subprime and other risky loan products gone bad. In 2008, and so far in 2009, these causes are now on a collision course with unemployment, huge electric bills, and other economic (household budget) factors. There is no one solution to stem the tide of foreclosures, but until we mix the right ingredients together to really slow down foreclosures, the entire economy will struggle. Without confidence in housing (owning and renting), people won't spend money--period. The Obama plan, the bill before the Baltimore City Council, the bankruptcy reform bill are all meant to encourage noteholders to try and do sustainable loan modifications to keep people in the homes because it is better for the lender, the homeowner, the community, government, if homes stay occupied. Unfortunately, it is much easier to foreclose and let a house sit vacant. A way to slow down foreclosures is an absolute mandatory moratorium to allow these other steps to be implementwed and tested.

Thanks for the comments, folks.

MrRational, the Mortgage Bankers Association doesn't release its data broken down by mortgage "vintage," unfortunately. I believe some companies -- like LoanPerformance, perhaps -- do track that, but for a price.

Is there anyone here that lives in the city?

I live in the city, I am still renting. Prices are still coming down, median income to median home price ratios are still too high, delinquencies are increasing, unemployment is rising (8.1% on they way to 10%), and please don’t get me started on city property taxes. I don't see one good reason to buy anytime soon.

Most of the job growth from 2001 until today was in the real estate sector. Same for "income" as people and business tapped equity and re-financing through cheap credit. It is estimated that all this accounted for 25-40 percent of economic activity during this time. As this now unwinds and crashes, there are no new jobs or industries that pay enough or have high enough demand/supply to hire. This means the value of houses and other physical commodities have to drop down to income levels.

This country isn't facing a credit problem per se, it is facing a jobs/income problem. Instead of paying workers more, they keep the wages stagnant and force you to live through credit. Investors keep the spread on the difference. Now that they have lost the spread, we have a credit problem. Housing won't stop its decline until affordability returns. And if people think they will recover their paper losses they are mistaken; it will take another bubble or two to accomplish that.