County leads in foreclosures

Prince George’s had most in the state for February

More than 10,000 county homeowners were listed as late on home payments, also the worst in the state. The second-worst foreclosure spot in the state was Baltimore city, which had 1,965 foreclosures and about 4,700 delinquent payers.

The numbers compiled by McDash Analytics continue to show a trend that places the county at the top of those suffering in a national sub-prime mortgage crisis, in which millions of homeowners have signed on for mortgages that offer lower initial interest rates that eventually increase.

Prince George’s has become one of the region’s hot spots for the home finance crisis. According to McDash, nearly 20,000 of the 122,000 mortgages in the county fall into the riskier sub-prime category.

There is a racial component to the numbers, national consumer groups said. Though it is among the most affluent in the state, Prince George’s County’s population is majority black, a group targeted by sub-prime lenders.

‘‘Clearly, the incidents [of sub-prime] lending are far greater among African-Americans,” said Allen Fishbein, an economic and mortgage expert for the Consumer Federation of America watchdog group. ‘‘While on the whole, African-American and Latinos fare more poorly with traditional credit, the difference [in the rate of sub-prime lending] is so great that there are more than just these risk factors involved.”

Fishbein said a recent study of home lending in Washington, D.C., showed buyers in predominantly white northwest neighborhoods were three times more likely to receive traditional fixed interest rate financing compared with a predominantly-black neighborhood in the city where buyers had the same income levels.

‘‘You can see a tremendous differential,” he said.

In Prince George’s County, Hyattsville had the highest number of foreclosures in February, with 495. About 308 of those were homes with sub-prime mortgages. Upper Marlboro led the listings for late payments, with 1,404 loans listed as delinquent in February.

Since the crisis began to explode last year, county officials and housing groups have pleaded with homeowners to seek financial help and loan assistance before getting behind on payments. State lawmakers have been working this session to extend the amount of time it takes for the foreclosure and eviction process, as well as to boost emergency loan programs and tighten licensing requirements for mortgage lenders.

Homeowners seeking help with financing or renegotiating their mortgage should call the county housing line at 301-883-HOME for referrals and help, or a national line at 1-888-995-HOPE.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net.

February 2008foreclosures

Prince George’s County continues to have the most foreclosures and delinquent house payments of any jurisdiction in Maryland, according to statistics released this week. McDash Analytics, which conducted the study, focused on specific communities but included foreclosure numbers in some unidentified areas of the county.