Falling home prices equal delinquencies. A comment from one of our sources on the Street reminded us of that simple fact today — which explains in part why our coverage of MBA’s delinquency stats today didn’t focus on the tired headline that delinquencies are on the way up, but instead on the more hidden trend that prime borrowers appear to be facing a wall financially. A freindly reminder:

Among other things, a given of mortgage credit long before subprime was “invented” was that delinquencies rise when home prices go down … now why did everyone forget this? Or forget tight credit late 70s early 80s or 91?

The old peas and carrots reminder — you can’t have one without the other.