Home prices put strain on buyers

- Some observers link rising foreclosure rates to the so-called exotic mortgages that gained popularity during the period. Those mortgages, frequently used by borrowers with shaky credit histories, often included adjustable rates requiring borrowers to pay more with time.

Kirsten Keefe, the Albany-based executive director of Americans for Fairness in Lending, said it's unclear if people borrowed under exotic mortgages because rising housing costs left them no choice or if housing costs rose dramatically because such mortgages became widely available.

"It's the age-old chicken-or-the-egg question," she said.