A record number of Americans were in danger of losing their homes in the fourth quarter decline. Mortgage delinquencies and the rate of those entering into a foreclosure declined in the fourth quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday. Possible signs that the foreclosure crisis is finally starting to ease.

Today’s MBA report showed payments overdue by 30 days or more for all types of mortgages dropped to a seasonally adjusted 9.47 percent in the fourth quarter from 9.64 percent in the previous quarter, the first drop since 2007’s first quarter.

"We are likely seeing the beginning of the end of the unprecedented wave of mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures that started with the subprime defaults in early 2007," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, in a written statement.

The delinquency rate for prime loans decreased to 6.73 percent from 6.84 percent, and the share of subprime late payments dropped 1 point to 25 percent from 26 percent according to MBA’s quarterly delinquency survey.

The delinquency rate for mortgages on one- to four-unit residential properties was a seasonally adjusted 9.47 percent of all mortgages outstanding in the fourth quarter, down from 9.64 percent in the third quarter and up from 7.88 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

“We usually have a spike in fourth-quarter delinquencies because of heating bills and Christmas bills, but this time we had a sizable decrease,” Brinkmann said. “It’s not the end of the crisis, but it looks like a big problem may not be getting much bigger.”

Meanwhile, 1.2 percent of outstanding mortgages entered the foreclosure process in the fourth quarter fell from 1.42 percent in the third quarter but up from fourth quarter 2008’s 1.08 percent.

Loans in foreclosure hit new high

Loans in foreclosure increased to 4.58 percent of all mortgages, while those more than 90 days overdue when lenders usually begin the process of seizing a property increased up climbed to 5.09 percent.

“We have a hard-core block of unemployed who have been out of jobs for a long time, and that's keeping the long-term delinquencies high,'' Jay Brinkmann, the association's chief economist, said in an interview. ``New entrants to the ranks of the unemployed have been falling, and that's why we see the early delinquencies dropping.''