Posted on 03/01/2010 10:15:14 PM PST by advance_copy
NEW YORK (Reuters) - More homeowners are falling behind on their mortgages, jeopardizing the nascent housing recovery and raising the possibility that home prices have not found their bottom but could instead fall further.
More than 8 percent of homeowners were behind 30 days or more on their mortgage loans, up 4.4 percent from December 2009 and 21 percent from last January, according to data that Equifax Inc (EFX.N), one of the largest U.S. credit bureaus, provided exclusively to Reuters.
The data is based on Equifax's 200 million-plus files of U.S. consumers using credit.
"This wasn't just a small uptick," said Dann Adams, president of Equifax' U.S. Consumer Information Solutions.
The surge took Adams by surprise after a fourth quarter when mortgage delinquency rates seemed to plateau.
"Did we just see a headfake?" Adams asked. "Things looked really promising, but the January numbers say wait, there's more to this story."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I know a lot of people behind on their mortgages for their residences. Some have all but officially kissed off their vacation parcels.
There are a lot of people in trouble that we would never suspect of being in trouble.
It was just the snowstorms...
“The surge took Adams by surprise “
There have been a lot of suprises out there for something that doesn’t seem that surprising to many of us. Exactly why is that the case?
Blanket cynicism and disgust with Obama on our part?
Or naive, out-of-touch lunacy on theirs?
When you need two letter "n's" in the name 'Dan' there's something wrong...
I’d like to buy a home in the next 6 months; I’m praying the banks will see fit to foreclose on some of these and release them for sale all at once instead of hoarding them so the prices stay high, artificially.
The inventory I’m looking at is the lowest in 8 years or something, even though it is Spring.
It’s time to just let the market work.
Beans and bullets.
This from Reuters that’s why “Unexpectedly” is missing from the headline.
They do seem to be making an effort not to put "unexpected" in the headline, but they still feel the need to express shock that all is not rosy under Obama.
If your into schadenfreude, zillow some exclusive zip codes..
The neighborhood nearest me with the worst foreclosure problem is the “best” (read most expensive) one, $750K plus. Here, the high end is getting nailed, as are lake properties, but the “normal” neighborhoods of $150K or so are fairing reasonably well. For now, at least.
The $150K to $200K homes have been doing OK in my area, but that is about to change. Layoffs and furloughs are coming to the local university and state agencies..
I think the low inventory is orchestrated to avoid crashing the market. I've never seen so many empty and deserted homes. My biggest impression was driving into Las Vegas once day. The outskirts appeared to be thousands and thousands of new homes, but the areas looked like ghost towns with no real sign of human inhabitants.
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