Yet another hit to the economic fitness of the U.S., foreclosure jump as more Americans face foreclosures. An estimated 234,685 foreclosure filings was reported for March, up 57% from March 2007, which was 149,150. With the increase in foreclosures nationally, it may weaken the re-sale market and force depreciation among these homes. This means that one in every 538 households had received a filling during March.
The news gets worse as a new wave of adjustable-rate loans will be resetting to higher rates in May and June, adding more families to the same scenario that many families have been facing with their mortgages.
The rate of homes that lenders have taken possession has risen sharply over the past year, up 129%, which has translated to 51,393 properties nationwide, many without a public foreclosure auction as the homeowners have simply mailed in their keys.
It has been estimated that between 750,000 and 1 million bank-owned homes will hit the market this year, about a quarter of all homes up for sale. Additionally, these properties will continue to slow the sales and depress the values of existing homes in some areas throughout the country.
Declining home prices and stricter lending requirements had exposed the foreclosure environment as homeowners are unable to either sell their homes or refinance to better loans before their mortgage payments reset to higher rates.
Nevada, once again, has been ranked as the worst foreclosure market for the 15th month in a row at one in every 139 households receiving a foreclosure related notice, almost four times the national rate. This has resulted in a 24% increase in fillings over February and 62% over March 2007.
California came in second highest foreclosure rate in the country with one in every 204 households. With the state's population, the state has 64,711 properties facing foreclosures, the most of any state and better than double last year's total.
Florida comes in with 30,254 homes reported at least one filling, down nearly 7% from February, but up 112% from a year ago.
The remaining states with the highest foreclosure rates were Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
With all this doom and gloom, there must be a bright spot for the homeowners of Raleigh, North Carolina and Wake County. According to California's RealtyTrac, the pace of foreclosures slowed to a "trickle" in North Carolina in March.
The company reported that 3,298 foreclosure filings were sent out in the state for March, or one in every 1,222 households. This represents an increase of 2% over last year and a monthly decline of 18.6% since February. For North Carolinian, this is great news and it means that their homes on the market should sell quicker and with less competition than other areas of the country are facing.
However, this also means that we are at the mercy of other states due to the large influx of families from many of these troubled states. Typically, all real estate is local, but with such high foreclosure rates across the nation, it has made local real estate susceptible to national trends.
For more information about this and other issues facing the Real estate market in the Triangle, email me.
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