At the urging of Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup all announced temporary halts on foreclosures Friday.

“I wouldn't be surprised to see foreclosures increase as the economy slows down. The people living paycheck to paycheck are at risk if they lose their jobs. It will cause more people to lose their homes,” says Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac.

The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties stood at 5.82 percent of all loans outstanding in the fourth quarter of 2007 on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis, up 23 basis points from the third quarter of 2007, and up 87 basis points from one year ago, according to MBA's National Delinquency Survey.

If you thought that the housing market could not get any worse, think again as mortgage foreclosures in USA hit a new record high.

Real estate house prices in the US continue their downward plunge. And since prices are falling, more homeowners find their equity gone and are therefore trying to sell their houses, too, resulting in still more declines.