As I predicted 5 years ago: strategic defaults are here to stay.

With reports that around 20% of mortgages are underwater, about 46% of bank risk professionals surveyed by FICO expect to see the volume of strategic defaults in 2012 exceed 2011 levels. “After five years of a brutal housing market, many people now view their homes more objectively and with less sentimentality,” said Dr. Andrew Jennings, chief analytics officer at FICO and head of FICO Labs. Only 29% of bankers said the current generation of homeowners considers their mortgage to be their most important credit obligation, while 49% said its not a priority.

read something similiar but it said even though auto defaults are up, making the auto payment is considered priority, with cell phone second and cable bill third; house payment was down around 8th