Q4 mortgage delinquencies jump

This just in from the Mortgage Bankers Association:

* The overall mortgage delinquency rate climbed to 4.95% in the fourth quarter. That's up from 4.67% in Q3 and 4.7% Q4 2005. Historically speaking, it's the highest in three-and-a-half years.

* Subprime delinquencies jumped to 13.33%. That's up from 12.56% in Q3 and 11.63% in Q4 2005. It's also the highest in just over four years.

* But it's NOT just subprime, and it's NOT just ARMs that are starting to show problems. Even the prime, fixed rate category showed a spike in delinquencies to 2.27%. This number had been in a tight range of 2% to 2.11% for several quarters.

* The foreclosure rate popped to 1.19% from 1.05% in Q3 and 0.99% in Q4 2005. The last time it was higher was in Q1 2004.

This survey covers more than 43.5 million first mortgages on 1-4 unit residential properties. It's one of the broadest delinquency and foreclosure surveys in existence.