iHaveNet.com
Home Repossessions Hit New Record High
Online Breaking News Headlines Single Source to Headlines Breaking News Current Events Top Stories. Find out what is happening in News & the World. Check out iHaveNet.com for the latest news & current events articles plus Movie Reviews, Wolfgang Puck Recipes, NFL Previews Analysis and Politics. Your Single Source to News Articles, Current Events & Reviews.
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews

ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS | OPINION | TRADE

U.S. CITIES:  

HOME > USA

Home Repossessions Hit New Record High
Luke Mullins

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

Banks repossessed a record number of homes last month, an ominous sign for a real estate market that has seen demand slide substantially in recent weeks.

Nearly 94,000 properties were repossessed by lenders in May, an increase of 1 percent from April and 44 percent from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac's most recent U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. "We are going through the eye of the storm," says Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight. "Banks are taking over properties at a record rate right now."

The rise in home repossessions is linked to developments in the Obama administration's housing rescue initiative, says Celia Chen, a senior director at Moody's Analytics. The administration reported that 278,000 trial mortgage modifications have been canceled through April. As banks holding such loans learn they don't qualify for federal assistance, they can resume foreclosure proceedings.

"You can't save everybody," says Mike Larson of Weiss Research. "It's been a year and change since [the Obama administration's housing rescue] was rolled out and it's at a point now where some of these borrowers are going to be lost no matter what you do for them."

The increase in repossessions comes even as notices of default -- the first step in the foreclosure process -- fell 22 percent from a year earlier to their lowest level since November 2008. Although this trend may appear encouraging, Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac argues that in this case, the data belies the reality of the market.

[Check out Home Prices Have Further to Fall: Here's Why]

With their books already cluttered with distressed properties, many banks have delayed sending out default notices -- which initiate the foreclosure process -- until they have completed other transactions, he says. "Typically, you don't get a foreclosure notice until you are 90 days past due," Sharga says. "Everybody I've talked to knows somebody who has been in their house for over a year and hasn't made a payment and still hasn't received a notice."

These repossessed properties will eventually find their way onto the market, adding to a still-elevated inventory and working to drag home prices lower. The inventory of unsold homes rose nearly 12 percent in April, to just over 4 million homes. Demand for mortgage loans, meanwhile, has sputtered following the expiration of the federal home buyer tax credit. This increase in bank repossessions "will have a depressing effect on home prices," Chen says.

[See Applications Point to Slow Summer Housing Season]

But the housing outlook is not without hope. Sharga points to recent surveys from the Mortgage Bankers Association, which show that 30-day delinquency rates have improved. "That's the first glimmer of hope we have seen in over two years," Sharga says. (This improvement is tied to stabilization in the labor market.)

Still, the market will remain saturated with distressed properties for some time. "Those early-stage delinquencies that are starting to go down are on loans that were issued in the last couple of years -- and that's good. It means these loans are actually performing the way they are supposed to," he says. "But it won't really have a material impact on foreclosure numbers for another 12 to 18 months."

"There is definitely hope down the line, it is just that we have this big bulge of loans that are troubled and we have to work through them," Chen says. "With the large supply [and] weak demand, I think it will be probably 2012 before a lot of these homes are worked through."

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

 

  • Is the Recession Over?
  • Managing Debt Remains Key in Face of An Uncertain Economy
  • Chamber of Commerce Aims to Boost Trade With China
  • Home Repossessions Hit New Record High
  • 2010 Elections Will Turn on Jobs and the Economy
  • America Has Two Sets of Rules
  • Why May Jobs Report is Better and Worse Than it Looks
  • Jobless Economic Recovery Remains Issue Number One
  • What Financial Reform Means For Consumers
  • Financial Reform Legislation Gives Shareholders More Say
  • Financial Reform: Win for Wall Street - Cold Shoulder for Main Street
  • Fiduciary Provision May Be Most Important Part of Financial Reform Bill
  • Unfair Trade Practices Are Wiping Out Jobs
  • In a Welfare State How Much Is 'Enough'?
  • Should Investors Sit This One Out?
  • Why Jobless Teens May Have More to Blame Than the Recession
  • What Home Sales Jump Means for Economic Recovery
  • Home Prices Have Further to Fall: Here's Why
  • Why Housing is Headed for Second-Half Headaches
  • Nancy Pelosi Will Lead America to National Ruin
  • Financial Reform's Uncertain Promise
  • The Way We're Working Isn't Working
  • What Gold Can and Cannot Do For You
  • Why Some Women Skirt the Wage Gap
  • The Crippling Price of Public Employee Unions
  • European Union Funding Proposal Is Only the Beginning
  • Why Wall Street's Gain Has Been America's Loss
  • Euro Crisis has American Fingerprints
  • Wall Street Probes: Collateralized Debt Obligations
  • Voters See Debt Crisis. Why Doesn't Washington?
  • Social Security Inflation Adjustment Debate
  • European Debt Crisis Affects Investments
  • Greece: Model of Socialistic Excess
  • Who Got Hit Worst in the Market Crash
  • Expeditionary Economics: Spurring Growth After Conflicts and Disasters
  • Why More Diplomacy Won't Keep the Financial System Safe
  • Muddling through Greece's Tremors
  • Greece Financial Crisis Raises Doubts About European Union
  • Bigger Is Better: Case for Transatlantic Economic Union
  • European Union: A Fragile Partnership
  • Goldman Sachs Testimony Boost for Financial Reform
  • A Culture of Criminality on Wall Street
  • Greek Debt Crisis May Hurt Latin America Economy
  • Why April's Unemployment Rise Shows Workers Hopeful Again
  • Smart Moves for Tomorrow's Higher Interest Rates
  • Still the Optimist
  • The Global Glass Ceiling: Why Empowering Women Is Good for Business
  • Life in the Age of 'Much Worse Than We Thought It Would Be'
  • What 3.2 Percent GDP Growth Says About Our Contradictory Economy
  • Congress Had a Role in the Financial Crisis
  • Just a Few Questions for the SEC
  • Financial Crisis - Somebody Must Pay!
  • Is Latin America Booming? Not Quite Yet
  • Guns vs. Butter 2010
  • Your Guide to the Goldman Sachs Lawsuit
  • Can SEC Beat Goldman Sachs?
  • Time to Break up the Big Banks
  • Resisting Wall Street Reform
  • Shorting The Middle Class: The Real Wall Street Crime
  • Obama Edge on Financial Reform
  • 10 Cities Facing Double Whammy of Default Risks
  • Capitalism vs. Capitalists
  • Business Schools' Great Ethics Debate

Home Repossessions Hit New Record High

 

(c) 2010 U.S. News & World Report

 

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

Job & Career Search

career & job search                    job title, keywords, company, location

ADVERTISEMENT

POLITICS

Subscribe to Politics

Delivered by FeedBurner


Political Commentary

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

Your Ad Here
Your Ad Here
  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

Home Repossessions Hit New Record High

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy