More Americans are walking away from their mortgage obligations. A report released by Morgan Stanley indicated that more homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages even though they can afford to pay the loans. According to the New-York based global financial services giant, around 12% of the total number of mortgage defaults in February were “strategic,” up from only 4% in mid-2007.

Analysts who made the report considered a default a strategic one when homeowners who hadn’t previously delinquent were making on-time payments one month, then missed them for the next three months even though they are paying other consumer debt of at least $10,000 on time.

The report stated that homeowners are more likely to default on their mortgages the higher their credit scores and the larger their loans. It also noted that strategic defaults rise based on how much more borrowers owe in housing debt than the price of their homes.

Industry experts have warned that borrowers who default on their mortgage pose a big risk to the housing market. Morgan Stanley’s report, however, acknowledged the efforts by the Obama administration to address the issue of rising mortgage defaults. The federal government’s policy change “gives us hope that policymakers are serious about curbing future strategic defaults,” the report said, referring to Washington’s plan to amend its anti-foreclosure program to encourage cuts to borrowers’ principal amounts, instead of just the payments they make.

Reports said as many as 12 million foreclosures will hit the housing market over the next few years if lenders fail to effectively adjust borrowers’ debt.

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