Utah had one of the lowest mortgage foreclosure rates in the nation last year, at 0.74 percent of all outstanding loans.

Despite rising foreclosure and delinquency rates nationwide, Utah has improved its foreclosure rates. The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that Utah's second quarter 2007 foreclosure rate fell significantly from the same period last year. During the second quarter of this year, Utah posted a 0.55 percent rate of loans in foreclosure. That's down 26 percent compared to the same time frame in 2006.

Nationally, six other states have lower foreclosure rates than Utah. But the nationwide average is 1.40 percent.

The states thought to be responsible for the overall increase in foreclosures — Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada — are the ones that experienced some of the highest appreciation as housing prices soared in past years. But those states now are seeing a downturn as mortgage loans become harder to come by and fewer prospective buyers are in the market for homes.

In addition to its falling foreclosure rate, Utah also has fewer homeowners behind on their payments than most of the rest of the nation. In the second quarter of 2007, 3.45 percent of Utah homeowners fell into that category, well below the national average of 5.12 percent.

Analysts are cautious when considering the future of Utah's housing market. Housing sales for the second quarter of this year have fallen in Utah and along the Wasatch Front, along with the rest of the United States. Sales in the state are down 17 percent and down 21 percent along the Wasatch Front, compared with the national average of 21 percent.

But home values in Utah have jumped 19 percent statewide and 10 percent in the four Wasatch Front counties, far outpacing most other states.

---

E-mail: jlee@desnews.com