Millionaire mortgage defaults on the rise

[Reuters] The U.S. housing market crash triggered the 2008 financial crisis and fueled a wave of mortgage defaults and foreclosures over the past two years.

Now, growing numbers of well heeled Americans, their portfolios hammered by depressed markets, have stopped repaying loans or even walked away from mortgages.

"The affluent are not immune to the recession. It just took a while to manifest itself," said Jay Welker, chief executive of Wells Fargo Private Bank. "In this economy, the high net worth segment has had to de-leverage itself as well."

The million-dollar delinquency rate has exceeded the overall delinquency rate since April 2008.

"The high end of the housing market has deteriorated at a worse rate than the market as a whole," said Sam Khater, senior economist at CoreLogic. "This recession is unlike prior recessions. It hit the high end just as much as the low end."