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Mecklenburg County

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WASHINGTON - The number of homeowners stung by the rout in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50 percent compared with June a year ago, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, 252,363 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in June, up 53 percent from the same month last year, but down 3 percent from May, RealtyTrac Inc. said. One in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month.

Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but 11 states. Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan continued to have the highest foreclosure rates.Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. More than 71,000 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in June, the company said.

While foreclosures continue to rise nationwide, efforts in some states to give borrowers more time before losing their homes appear to be working.

In Maryland, where a new law has increased the time to finalize a foreclosure to 150 days from just 15, foreclosure filings dropped by almost 18 percent from last year’s levels. In Massachusetts, which last year passed a similar law, filings dropped almost 3 percent.

Still, the combination of weak housing sales, falling home values, tighter mortgage lending criteria and a slowing U.S. economy has left financially strapped homeowners with few options to avoid foreclosure. Many can’t find buyers or owe more than their home is worth and can’t refinance into an affordable loan.

Economists project 2.5 million homes nationwide will enter the foreclosure process this year, up from about 1.5 million in 2007.

Analysts say the mortgage industry’s effort to assist troubled borrowers is being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the foreclosure crisis, and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said earlier this week that many foreclosures are “not preventable,” citing borrowers who “took out mortgages they can’t possibly afford and they will lose their homes.”

Lawmakers and government officials have been struggling to come up with a response to soften the blow for the U.S. economy. Congress is working on legislation that would permit the Federal Housing Administration to provide new, cheaper mortgages to distressed homeowners who otherwise would have difficulty refinancing into more secure government-insured loans. Lenders would have to be willing to take a substantial loss by reducing the amount owed on the loan.

The Bush administration announced Tuesday that it would be ready on Monday to implement an FHA expansion that lets borrowers who’ve fallen behind on their home payments — because of mortgage rate resets or other economic hardships — get more affordable loans.

In the RealtyTrac report, metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounted for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure for the third-straight month. That list was led by three California cities: Stockton, Merced and Modesto. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida was fourth.

 

In Nevada, one in every 122 households received a foreclosure-related notice last month, more than four times the national rate.

In today’s market, about 50 to 60 percent of borrowers nationally who receive foreclosure filings are now likely to lose their homes, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president of marketing, compared with a typical rate of about 40 percent.

“For more and more homeowners who are getting into foreclosure,” Sharga said, “there is a much higher likelihood that they are ultimately going to lose the properties to the bank.”

Foreclosure filings surged 53 percent in June

Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan still leading nation

Housing market slump seen stretching further

Realtor group's top economist: 'We are not out of the woods by any means'

updated 6:01 p.m. ET, Tues., July. 8, 2008

WASHINGTON - Signs are emerging that the U.S. housing market’s long slump is likely to fester through the summer, and the real estate market may not recover for at least another year.

The latest report, the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index, slipped by 4.7 percent in May to the third-lowest reading on record. The decline “suggests we are not out of the woods by any means,” said the trade group’s chief economist Lawrence Yun.

The bad news came as the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tried to reassure investors that an accounting rule change wouldn’t force the government-chartered mortgage finance companies to raise tens of billions in capital to offset losses.

With more negative data about the housing market continuing to emerge as the economy weakens and job losses accelerate, economists are reluctant to say the worst is over.

“Even if housing market activity does manage to bottom out later this year, it is likely that any recovery would be exceedingly slow,” Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said in a speech in Washington.

While home sales are likely to fall to their lowest point late this year or early next year, any recovery is likely to be weak through at least 2010, said Mark Vitner, senior economist with Wachovia Corp.

Meanwhile, prices shouldn’t hit bottom for another year at the earliest, Vitner said, since the housing market is glutted with unsold new homes and foreclosed properties.

Making matters worse, rates on 30-year mortgages have been above 6 percent since late May, leading to a steep decline in new applications.

Continue Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25591213/

 

The Realtors’ seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 4.7 percent to 84.7 from an upwardly revised April reading of 88.9. The index was 14 percent below year-ago levels. Sales are considered pending when the seller has accepted an offer, but the deal has not yet closed.

Renewed pain for home sales

Sign of continued trouble for housing: Number of existing homes under sales contract drops 4.7% in May after an unexpected rise the month before.

 

By Ben Rooney, CNNMoney.com staff writer

Last Updated: July 8, 2008: 11:50 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of homes under sales contracts fell more than expected in May after a surprising spike the month before, a real estate trade group said Tuesday.

The report by the National Association of Realtors was another sign that the nation's housing problems are not abating.

The Realtors' Pending Home Sales Index fell to 84.7 in May, down 4.7% from an upwardly revised reading of 88.9 in April. The index was 14% below its level in May 2007.

The recent decline was steeper than the 2.8% fall that economists had forecast, according to a consensus of estimates compiled by Briefing.com.

"The overall decline in contract signings suggests we are not out of the woods by any means," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

Yun said that some pullback had been expected after April's surprise increase. The index jumped more than 7% in April as falling home prices sparked a bout of bargain shopping.

"The housing market had a nice bounce in April - too bad it doesn't appear to have carried through into May and June," said Mike Larson, real estate analyst at Weiss Research.

Larson says the May decline was caused by falling consumer confidence, rising unemployment, tight credit conditions and high energy and food costs straining household budgets.

"Unless and until the economic clouds part, we'll likely see the housing market continue to struggle," Larson said.

In the report, the NAR lowered its existing-home sales outlook for 2008, saying it now expects sales of 5.31 million, down from the 5.39 million forecast in April.

The NAR said existing home prices are also expected to fall. The aggregate median existing-home price is projected to fall 6.2% this year to $205,300, and then rise by 4.3% in 2009 to $214,100, the report indicated.

The outlook for new-home sales was also revised lower to 525,000 from the 529,000 prediction a month ago. And the median new-home price was expected to decline 3.2% to $239,300 this year.

Pending home sales declined in all regions. In the West, they declined 1.3% during May but remain 2% above year-ago levels.

Declines were steepest in the South, where May pending home sales declined 7.1%. They fell 2.9% in the Northeast and 6% in the Midwest.

Still, the NAR found double-digit pending sales gains in May from a year ago in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Spartanburg, S.C.

"Some markets have seen a doubling in home sales from a year ago, while others are seeing contract signings cut in half," said Yun.

In some cases, the differences in home prices, and consequently home sales, can be attributed to the ongoing fallout from the subprime crisis.

"Price conditions vary tremendously, even within a locality, depending upon a neighborhood's exposure to subprime loans," Yun added. 

First Published: July 8, 2008: 10:00 AM EDT