(MONEY Magazine) – ALL IS WELL 4.2% Latest delinquency rate for residential mortgages

[UP] Despite rising home prices, borrowers actually have done a better job keeping up with payments than they did last year, when defaults hit 4.5%, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association. Low interest rates kept outlays manageable; decent job growth helped too.

OR MAYBE NOT $881 bil. Total amount owed on home-equity loans and lines of credit

[DOWN] That number is up sharply from $492 billion in 2000. If home prices drop as interest rates rise, lots of home-equity borrowers could feel a tight squeeze. In May federal bank regulators urged lenders to be more careful in larding out all that cash. --PAT REGNIER