During the 1930’s Great Depression, nearly half of all residential mortgages went into foreclosure. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, 9% of all residential mortgages are currently either delinquent or in foreclosure. But the banks and financials are being bought today.

In any event, this isn’t your grandfather’s subprime anymore. This, per Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s Chief Economist, is USDA prime:

“Subprime ARM loans accounted for 36 percent of all foreclosures started and prime ARMs, which include option ARMs, represented 23 percent. However, the increase in prime ARMs foreclosure starts was greater than the combined increase in fixed-rate and ARM subprime loans. Thus the foreclosure start numbers will likely be increasingly dominated increasingly by prime ARM loans.“

Emphasis mine.