Study finds Midwest has highest risk of foreclosures, fraud

(AP) - A new report finds the highest risk for mortgage lenders nationally is in Michigan -- where high foreclosures and mortgage fraud persist.

Michigan has three of the top-10 riskiest markets for residential mortgages based on fraud propensity, house price dynamics and local economic health.

Groupings of Detroit area communities took the No. 1 and No. 2 slots. The Grand Rapids area ranked seventh.

The report by First American CoreLogic also finds eight of the 10 riskiest markets are located in the Midwest.

The riskiest areas also have foreclosure rates and fraud three times higher than national averages.

Foreclosure rate estimates for the national residential mortgage market are still well below 2 percent.