Nearly one-third of mortgages responsible for nearly one third of defaults. Reel at 11.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

A survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that mortgages on properties that aren't occupied by the owner -- mostly investment homes -- account for between 21% and 32% of the defaults on prime-quality home loans in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada, states where overdue payments are mounting fast.

Wow! Those investors are a bunch of deadbeats. But wait:

In Nevada, Arizona and Florida, loans for properties that weren't owner-occupied accounted for nearly a third of all home mortgages issued in 2005.

So only in California is that number at all surprising. And it may simply be an outlier; no word on states where defaults by investors are abnormally low.