February 15, 2008 (LPAC)--Countrywide, the largest U.S. home mortgage company recently taken over by the Bank of America, announced today that the delinquency rate on its nine million home mortgages jumped up from 4.3 percent of unpaid balances in January 2007 to 7.5 percent last month. The foreclosure rate on its 9 million mortgages doubled to to 1.5 percent last month from 0.8 percent a year earlier.

The National Association of Realtors said yesterday that U.S. home sales fell overall nearly 21% from October through December, compared with the same period the year before. At the same time, the median price plunged by a record 5.8% to $206,200. Nevada is the state with the biggest drop in sales, with a 44% sales of existing homes fell in 45 states and Washington, D.C., in the last quarter of 2007, and prices dropped in more than half the metro areas it tracks.

Rich Cosner of Prudential California Realty, reported in USA Today that the foreclosures are driving down prices and spurring home sales, because there are so many, that lenders "need to get them sold and will take a much lower price than a normal home seller."