Some fascinating data from the WSJ:

• Nearly 1.2 million foreclosure filings were reported last year, a 42% rise from 2005. That is a rate of one in every 92 U.S. households.

• Colorado, Georgia and Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rates last year, according to RealtyTrac. Among the top 100 metropolitan areas, Detroit, Atlanta and Indianapolis topped the list.

• About 80% of subprime mortgages today are adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, that have been nicknamed “exploding ARMs” because they have low fixed-interest payments in their first few years but then usually adjust to higher interest payments.

• Creative new subprime loans — “piggyback,” “interest-only,” and “no-doc” loans, among others — accounted for 47% of total loans issued last year. At the start of the decade, they were less than 2% of total mortgage loans.

• Borrowers have never been more leveraged. Loan-to-value ratios, the loan amount expressed as a percent of the property value, have grown to 86.5% last year from 78% in 2000.

Found here.