More homeowners lost their home in Q2

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delinquencies on U.S. home mortgages fell slightly in the three months through June, though the number of homeowners who lost their homes rose sharply from the first quarter, U.S. banking regulators said on Friday.

The total number of serious delinquencies fell 5.3 percent to 2.08 million, while the total number of home forfeiture actions rose 14.2 percent to 221,474 in the second quarter, according to a report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

Those home forfeiture actions include completed foreclosures, short sales and so-called "deed-in-lieu" transactions where homeowners give up their home without going through the foreclosure process.

The bulk of those lost homes were completed foreclosures, which rose 6.7 percent to 162,812 in the second quarter. Newly initiated foreclosures fell 21.2 percent to 292,072 while foreclosures in process fell 1.8 percent to 1,149,770.

Serious delinquencies are 16.1 percent higher than a year ago, while the number of homes lost is 67.5 percent higher than the second quarter of 2009.

The report covers nearly 34 million loans totaling almost $6 trillion in principal balances and provides information on their performance through June.

The report defines "serious delinquencies" as those loans 60 days or more past due or delinquent loans to bankrupt borrowers.

The OCC and OTS Mortgage Metrics Report provides performance data on first-lien residential mortgages serviced by national banks and federally regulated thrifts. The mortgages in this portfolio comprise about 65 percent of all mortgages outstanding in the United States.

(Reporting by Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Neil Stempleman)