Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Foreclosures Rose In March

The number of foreclosure in the US rose In March. The foreclosure rate continues to remain very high. There is a fresh wave of mortgages that are resetting during this year. The foreclosure rate is likely to continue to increase as the year progress, especially in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

The number of U.S. homes receiving at least one foreclosure filing jumped 57 percent in March to 234,685, compared with 149,150 properties a year earlier. Filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

The overall foreclosure rate is 5 percent higher than in February, which saw an unexpected month-to-month decline over January. March marked the 27th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in national foreclosure filings.

Nevada clocked in the worst foreclosure rate for the 15th straight month. Last month, one in every 139 households received a foreclosure-related notice, nearly four times the national rate.

In Florida, 30,254 homes reported at least one filing, down nearly 7 percent from February, but up 112 percent from the year before.

Rounding out the states with the highest foreclosure rates were Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland.

The situation is so bad in Nevada that "one in every 139 households received a foreclosure-related notice, nearly four times the national rate." If March is an average month for foreclosures compared with other months. Then in a year period one would expect about 1 in 12 home in Nevada to receive a foreclosure related notice. That statistic is shocking.

In many bubble markets, foreclosures are already making a significant contribution to dragging prices lower. From Southern California "More than one out of three Southland homes that resold last month, nearly 38 percent, had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior year. (DQ News)"

Locally, in the DC area, foreclosures are widespread in many of the middle to outer suburbs. These places include, but are not limited to, Manassas, Woodbridge, Waldorf, Sterling, Laurel. These foreclosures are contributing to the downward trend in prices for housing units in these areas. In Washington, DC proper and many inner suburbs foreclosures have been rare.

9 comments:

  1. I know in Minneapolis we haven't seen the bottom yet.. I am getting calls from people pretty regularlly saying they havn't missed a payment yet but know they can't hang on much longer.

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  2. As I read it, your quoted data re: Nevada does not allow you to estimate the monthly rate of additional properties entering foreclosure.

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  3. "More than one out of three Southland homes that resold last month, nearly 38 percent, had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior year.

    San Diego is the lead dog. California is absolutely destroying the credit markets on its own. When you consider what all of the other bubble markets are doing...

    I agree foreclosures in the inner suburbs are rare. But they're starting to happen (infrequently). Look at March's sales rates... Buyers are not finding many properties that interest them at today's prices. Cest la vie.

    82% of mortgages are now Fannie and Freddie per news reports. Wow! As I've stated before, full doc loans will not restart the bubble. Fannie and Freddie are having trouble selling bonds. Hence why many banks have increased their requirements above what the GSE's demand (in case they're stuck with the loans).

    We're not done with the credit crunch. Until we're done with that, the housing bubble will continue to collapse.

    And its not even the summer transfer season...

    Got Popcorn?
    Neil

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  4. What do you think of this?http://nreionline.com/news/vultures_luxury_resorts_0416/

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  5. >Then in a year period one would expect about 1 in 12 home in Nevada to receive a foreclosure related notice. That statistic is shocking.<

    Not so shocking when you look at a recently (post 2004) developed zip code like Mountain's Edge 89178. If you research the homes on an average street, 100% - every single one - is under water by 100k or more. Taking that into account it's shocking that anyone is paying the mortgage there.

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  6. Neil said...

    "I agree foreclosures in the inner suburbs are rare. But they're starting to happen (infrequently)."

    "starting to happen" Hmm - sounds to me like you are accepting the reaility that inner area prices have not fallen much...yet. Maybe someday they will fall as much as the outer areas have (at least that is my hope).

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  7. Nobody put a gun to anybody's head when they were buying the properties and nobody should come to their rescue now. This includes homeowners, investors, mortgage companies, and the lenders.

    The fact is everybody choose to get involved and nobody can play the victim card. The best thing that could happen is the government DOES NOT get involved. The markets will correct themselves.

    I too own rental properties that have lost value. Properties that in hindsight I wish I did not buy. But I signed my name on the dotted line and while some of my properties have lost value I can focus on picking up new properties that cash flow at unheard of prices.

    It's called a housing "market" for a reason. It is a place to buy and sell and there are no guarantees other than one of opportunity.

    Gerald Romine
    www.geraldromine.com

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  8. Money only "flows" into three places; cash, real estate, or Wall Street (generic for financial instruments of any kind or commodities). After the dot com bust, money flowed out of Wall Street and into real estate. After the bubble burst there, it went back to Wall Street (hence last years big gains). Now it is flowing into cash; it remains to be seen what happens next. It could go back to the Street, or it could go in to real estate in strong markets and weak if pricing allows for purchases for pennies on the dollar. I am a bona fide Kool Aid drinker for real estate, but we have not seen the end; we have another 18 months to go.

    On another issue, one of the commenters stated that in NV some homes have depreciated $100K, and "no wonder some people quit making their payments." I'm pretty sure depreciation only hits you when a property is sold, so what specifically gives someone the right to just walk? Foreclosure is a horrible thing, but is only walking away is an absolute last resort.

    Kyle

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  9. I've got a fun chart for you that shows Phoenix AZ's latest notices of trustee's sales. Enjoy!

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