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That means that almost one of every seven mortgages in the state was in trouble. The nationwide percentage of delinquent or foreclosed mortgages was a record 14.4 percent, up from 10 percent a year earlier.
The rise in unemployment is the main driver behind the rise in foreclosures, according to Jay Brinkmann, the mortgage bankers’ chief economists. Despite the apparent end to the recession, unemployment is running at the highest level in decades — 9.7 percent in New Jersey and 10.2 percent nationwide in October.
“Mortgages are paid with paychecks,” Brinkmann said. As the number of unemployed people jumped by about 5.5 million over the past year, two million mortgages fell into serious delinquency, he said.
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