There were 92,858 mortgage foreclosures last month, according to RealtyTrac’s figures released on Wednesday. It marked almost one and a half years of high foreclosure activity.
“July marked the seventeenth consecutive month with a foreclosure activity total exceeding 300,000,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
Mortgage Foreclosures
Mortgage Foreclosures
“…mortgage foreclosures in 2005 same as one month in 2010…”
To put it all in perspective, five years ago, just before the US house price bubble crumbled, banks and other lenders in the US repossessed around 100,000 homes. Now it’s almost that number in a single month!
“Declines in new default notices, which were down on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month in July, have been offset by near-record levels of bank repossessions, which increased on a year-over-year basis for the eighth straight month,” continues Saccacio.
There are actually around 5 million homes under serious threat of repossession. The lenders, in many cases, are trying to work out a deal that is beneficial to both parties, which is having the effect of keeping the mortgage foreclosures numbers down.
“…mortgage foreclosures at the mercy of unemployment…”
US unemployment is still scratching close to the 10 percent mark. This means that those who have lost jobs are finding new jobs very hard or even impossible to find. They are struggling to make their mortgage payments and in many cases they are failing to make them.
“What’s driving most of the foreclosure activity is unemployment and other types of economic displacement,” said Rick Sharga, senior vice president of RealtyTrac.
“Repossessions coupled with the fact that we’re still looking at 5 million seriously delinquent loans, many of which would normally already be in foreclosure, really suggests that what the banks are doing is managing inventory levels.”
“…mortgage foreclosures running at same pace as home sales…”
The job market seems likely to remain weak for the next few months at least. Improvements are likely to have to wait until unemployment eases. Mortgage foreclosures and home sales are more or less running neck and neck with each other.
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