Sub Prime Map

The NY Fed has a map of subprime mortgages that will display a number of different metrics such as the number of subprime loans per 1000 housing units or the number of sub prime loans in foreclosure per 1000 housing units. The data is surprising but not in the way most would think. For instance, let's look at Florida where the bubble was most intense:

39.4 sub prime loans per 1000 housing units
5.1 sub prime loans in foreclosure per 1000 housing units
1 REO (real estate owned by banks) per 1000 housing units
13% of sub prime loans in foreclosure
85% median combined LTV (loan to value)

These are not good numbers but neither are they anything that is out of the ordinary. The % in foreclosure is around the long term average for sub prime loans. The LTV is lower than I would have expected based on the number of stories I've read about no money down mortgages. Overall, I think this is probably better than expected.

I don't want to minimize the problems in the sub prime mortgage market but these are not disastrous numbers. They are what should have been expected of sub prime borrowers. If banks were making these loans expecting lower foreclosure rates, they just weren't looking at history.