According to a report released today, it looks like the housing crisis is far from over:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Home foreclosures soared to an all-time high in the final quarter of last year, underscoring the suffering of distressed homeowners and the growing danger the housing meltdown poses for the economy.
The Mortgage Bankers Association, in a quarterly snapshot of the mortgage market released Thursday, said the proportion of all mortgages nationwide that fell into foreclosure shot up to a record high of 0.83 percent in the October-to-December quarter. That surpassed the previous high of 0.78 percent set in the prior quarter.
”Clearly it’s the worst it’s been,” chief association economist Doug Duncan said in an interview with The Associated Press.
More homeowners — at the same time — fell behind on their monthly payments.
The delinquency rate for all mortgages climbed to 5.82 percent in the fourth quarter. That was up from the 5.59 percent in the third quarter and was the highest since 1985. Payments are considered delinquent if they are 30 or more days past due.
It sure does hurt when a bubble bursts.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
According to the web, last year’s rate nationally was one in every 196 households. When we bought our house, we set a limit that we knew we would live to see paid off. Until now, I felt funny saying we bought a fixer for sixty grand. Now I feel sorry for the folks who have had their lives smashed by irresponsible mortgage lenders. Most people don’t understand how ARMs work. All they hear is a payment they can afford.
So the Feds are helping the banks, and a handful of victims, while the vast number of those who’ve lost their homes are hung out to dry. I fear this will turn out to do a lot more damage to our country than the attack of 9-11.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
This is all part of the collapse of the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate economy (FIRE) that was promoted by government policy to move America from a manufacturing based economy to a service economy. As the labor arbitage - outsouring of more professional jobs keep real wage growth low, asset bubble were used to cover up these problems. So now we are facing a structual adjustment in the national economy were the real wealth of people will be negatively affected for at least the next two years.
The foreclosure trends will get worse as a result.