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WASHINGTON – Dec. 10, 2010 – U.S. credit bureau TransUnion predicted Thursday the number of delinquent mortgage accounts would drop by nearly 20 percent next year.

The number of delinquent accounts – those with payments 60 days past due – is predicted to fall to 4.98 percent by the end of 2011 from 6.89 percent at the end of 2009.

“This is a welcome contrast to the year-over-year increases of 54 percent between 2006 and 2007, 53 percent between 2007 and 2008 and 50 percent between 2008 and 2009,” TransUnion said in a press release.

Steve Chaouki, group vice president in TransUnion’s financial services business unit, said the decrease in delinquencies could be attributed to “a slowly improving unemployment picture and continued stabilization in housing markets.”

“While there is continued price pressure in many markets, we expect a rise in property values along with some stabilization of values in those states and markets hardest hit by the recession,” he said.

TransUnion said Nevada would see a 24.77 percent drop in its delinquency rate next year while Arizona’s rate would drop 24.27 percent. In Florida, the rate would drop 23.9 percent.

“Interestingly, the states projected to experience the greatest decrease in mortgage delinquencies – Nevada, Arizona and Florida – are the same areas expected to have the highest 60-day mortgage delinquency rates at the end of next year,” TransUnion said.

The states most in need of improvement, in other words, are expected to experience the highest rates of improvement.

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