States Step In as Foreclosures Balloon - Housing Market Tracker

Foreclosure Data

States Tackle Foreclosures In Absence of Federal Help. “Frustrated by the slow pace of federal action… some states and cities have struck out on their own to stem an alarming rise in foreclosures that has depressed home prices in most parts of the country and eroded local governments' revenues as property taxes and utility bills go unpaid. Pew Charitable Trusts: Nine states have committed more than $450 million to "loan funds" aimed at refinancing the mortgages of at-risk borrowers. A handful have brokered deals with major lenders… to ease terms for some troubled loans. A few states have lengthened the time it takes to complete a foreclosure. (Washington Post, Apr. 16th)

Pace Doubles For County Foreclosures. “Illinois: In 2007, there were 76 property foreclosures handled by the DeKalb County Sheriff's office… The total number of foreclosures [in 2008] is expected to reach 170. Bob Schroeder, lender and director of the Illinois Community Credit Union based in Sycamore: “I think it's interesting who the banks are with the most foreclosures, such as Deutsch Bank [Sic], with 12. This tells me that the problems locally are from the use of downtown banks; local banks are doing better than national ones.” (Midweek News, Apr. 16th)

Philadelphia Devises Program To Stem Foreclosures. “Pennsylvania: Philadelphia judges, advocates for borrowers, and attorneys for lenders have developed a pilot program they hope will slash the number of mortgage-foreclosure sales in the city… A key component is a timeline requiring mortgage companies to respond more quickly to proposals made by housing counselors on behalf of borrowers in default on their mortgage payments… Under the plan, owner-occupied foreclosed properties - representing 80% of foreclosures - will be diverted to a different track from vacant and investor-owned properties. The procedure will apply to all mortgages, not just subprime loans... Regularly scheduled sheriff's sales… will resume next month after a one-month hiatus. (Philly.com, Apr. 16th)

Foreclosures Continue to Rise. “RealtyTrac’s March 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report: In March, nearly 235,000 properties across the country were in some stage of the foreclosure process, such as in default, up for auction, or repossessed by the bank… A 5% uptick from the previous month and a 57% jump compared to March 2007… RealtyTrac compared property and owner tax addresses to… estimate that 25%-33% of properties in foreclosure (meaning they have not yet been repossessed by a lender) are not owner-occupied. That means that 66%-75% of property owners in foreclosure are losing their homes, not a vacant property bought purely as an investment.” (Builder Online, Apr. 15th)

Maryland Home Foreclosures Rose 6 Percent In March. “RealtyTrac: Home foreclosures jumped more than 6% in Maryland in March… Nearly 4,300 homes in the state were foreclosed on last month. The 6% increase from February to March placed Maryland 10th among all states in foreclosure rate. One out of every 538 homes in Maryland received a foreclosure filing in March… That's even with the national average… RealtyTrac said foreclosure activity in Maryland increased 343% compared with one year ago.” (Baltimore Business Journal, Apr. 15th)

Pa.: Foreclosures Jump 20 Percent In March. “RealtyTrac: Foreclosures in Pennsylvania rose sharply in March, but remained in line with the number in March 2007. There were 2,900 properties that received a foreclosure filing last month, a 20% jump from February, but nearly the same as in March of last year… With one in every 1,880 households in foreclosure last month, Pennsylvania's foreclosure rate ranked 34th among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., well below the national average of one in every 538 households in foreclosure. Pennsylvania was 21st in the overall number of properties in foreclosure.” (Chron.com, Apr. 15th)

Tennessee Foreclosures Drop In March. RealtyTrac: “Tennessee's foreclosure rate in March decreased 21.21% from February with one filing for every 955 households, a ratio that was 15th-highest in the nation. The ratio was 22% higher than in March 2007. Tennessee had 1,385 filings in March.” (Memphis Business Journal, Apr. 15th)

First-Quarter Foreclosures Up 49 Percent In County From 2007. Wisconsin: ForeclosuresWI.com: In March, 95 foreclosures were filed in Racine County, compared with 59 the previous March. Q1 foreclosure filings were running 49% ahead of last year’s pace — 269 this year compared with 180 last year at this time. Statewide, 2,069 homes entered foreclosure in March, nearly 30% more than in March 2007. Robert Jansen, president of ForeclosuresWI.com, called the numbers “staggering.” He noted that, from 2005-2007, foreclosure filings in the state soared by 70%. This year is running 36.4% ahead of last year’s pace.” (Journal Times, Apr. 15th)

Foreclosures.Com Ranks Florida 2nd In Q1 Bank Repossessions. “Foreclosures.com: Florida ranked second nationwide in lender or bank repossessions -- known as real estate-owned -- with 18,055 filings in Q1. That represents a 65% increase from the 6,395 repossessions reported in Q1’07. The state also placed second in pre-foreclosure filings with 118,301, a 64% increase from the 43,068 filings reported in Q1’07. Florida also was third among states with the most pre-foreclosure filings by household, with 18.7 per every 1,000 households, which compares with 6.8 per 1,000 households reported in Q1’07. In the Orlando area, Orange County posted a total of 7,671 pre-forclosures in Q1, along with 918 repossessions, the highest among the four-county metropolitan statistical area.” (Orlando Business Journal, Apr. 15th)

Homebuilder Stocks Tumble Following March Foreclosure Report. “RealtyTrac: Banks [are] taking possession of homes at a sharply higher rate as more homeowners walked away from their mortgages. The company estimates bank-owned properties will comprise up to a quarter of all homes on the market this year, which will slow sales and pressure prices in some areas.” (AP via Forbes, Apr. 15th)

Bank-Owned Real Estate Grows Nearly 71 Percent In Q1. “Foreclosures.com: Lenders have repossessed nearly 3 of every 1,000 households nationwide so far this year as a result of foreclosures, up 70.6% from 1.7 of every 1,000 households in Q1’07 and from 2.7 per 1,000 in Q4’07. The numbers mean already this year 210,280 homeowners have lost their [homes]. Big increases in the nation’s Southeast and Southwest regions led another 7.2 of every 1,000 households into pre-foreclosure in Q1 (515,411 pre-foreclosure filings), up from 3.7 per 1,000 households (264,445 filings) in Q1’07... For all of 2007, almost 1.32 million homeowners nationwide (18.2 for every 1,000 households) faced pre-foreclosure, up 59.65% from 636,957 filings (11.4 per 1,000 households) in 2006.” (Central Valley Business Times, Apr. 14th)

Wachovia on Walking Away. “From Wachovia Corp.’s (WB) latest conference call: Don Truslow, Wachovia Corporation - SEVP, CRO: “I don't know where the tipping point is, but somewhere when a borrower crosses the 100% loan to value, somewhere north of that and they presumably run into some sort of cash flow bump, whether it's reduced income or kind of normal things in life that have created past dues before, their propensity to just default and stop paying their mortgage rises dramatically and I mean really accelerates up and it's almost regardless of how they scored, say, on FICO or other kinds of character, credit characteristics.” (Calculated Risk, Apr. 14th)

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Comments

[tattors]

Where is the coverage of Wachovia redlining the country for lending?

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