Delinquencies on mortgage loans for properties ranging from one to four units have fallen, according to a statement from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA’s National Delinquency Survey found that the rate fell to a seasonally adjusted rate of 9.47 percent of all loans outstanding as of the end of the fourth quarter 2009.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s forecast for 2010, the good news is that the recession is over; the bad news is that the country will continue to reel from the ramifications next year.

Like moths to a flame, investors these days are forming around what some believe could be the biggest distressed debt sales market since the days of the U.S. savings and loan crisis, according to a recent Ernst & Young survey.