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Housing Market Facts

July 2008

Mortgage Relief Plan Not Enough, Some Economists Say - Here are the highlights of the article...

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Help is on the way for some debt-plagued homeowners. It just may not be fast enough or broad enough to keep many from losing their residences. The mortgage relief plan that President Bush is poised to sign as soon as Wednesday is designed to rescue about 400,000 homeowners by allowing them to get more affordable mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. But consumer advocates and some economists think the housing act doesn't go nearly far enough to save those whose homeownership is in peril. While the foreclosure avoidance program is scheduled to start on Oct. 1, help may not arrive for months after that — and individual homeowners have no assurances they will be among those rescued. 

Nearly 2.8 million U.S. households are expected to either face foreclosure, turn over their homes to their lender or sell the properties for less than their mortgage's value by the end of next year, according to Moody's Economy.com. Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank, said the legislation will probably help the less distressed households among those flirting with foreclosure, while leaving others to fend for themselves.

"Because of the problems faced in setting this up, it's highly likely that this program won't be fully operational until the early part of next year," Carr said. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the FHA, already is trying to fend off suggestions of inevitable delays.

To be eligible, homeowners must live in the home they are mortgaging, must have been paying at least 31 percent of their income toward their mortgage as of March 1, and must have their income verified by the bank. But participation in the program is voluntary for lenders, and that looms as potentially a major obstacle to the program's success. Since the banks and financial firms that handle the mortgages will have to agree to let the borrower refinance, they might end up losing less if they let borrowers go into foreclosure

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April 2008

  • Late payments drive number of US homes facing foreclosure in April 2008 up 65 percent from year ago
  • Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April 2008, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March
  • Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida were among the hardest hit states, with metropolitan areas in California and Florida accounting for nine of the top 10 areas with the highest rate of foreclosure
  • One in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing in April. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states
  • The April data show nearly half of the properties received an initial notice of default, suggesting many homes were new entrants to the foreclosure process
  • More than 1 million home foreclosures are forecast for 2008
  • More than 54,500 properties were repossessed by lenders nationwide in April. In all, about 2 percent of U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure during the month
  • Nevada posted the worst foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 146 households receiving a foreclosure-related notice last month, nearly four times the national rate
  • California had the most properties facing foreclosure at 64,683, an increase of 112 percent from April 2007
  • Arizona had the third-highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 224 households reporting a foreclosure filing in April. A total of 11,620 homes reported at least one filing, up nearly 181 percent from a year earlier and up 26 percent from the previous month.
  • Florida had 35,264 homes reporting at least one foreclosure filing last month, a 146 percent jump from a year earlier and a 17 percent hike from March. That translates into a foreclosure rate of one in every 242 households, the fourth-highest in the nation
  • Other states among the 10 with the highest foreclosure rates in April were Colorado, Maryland, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan and Massachusetts

March 2008

  • Americans' percentage of equity in their homes fell below 50 percent for the first time on record since 1945, the Federal Reserve said.
  • Homeowners' portion of equity slipped to downwardly revised 49.6 percent in the second quarter of 2007 - this marks the first time homeowners' debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945
  • Moody's Economy.com estimates that 8.8 million homeowners, or about 10.3 percent of homes, will have zero or negative equity by the end of the month. Even more disturbing, about 13.8 million households, or 15.9 percent, will be "upside down" if prices fall 20 percent from their peak

January 2008

  • Nationwide, some 233,001 homes received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, compared with 148,425 a year earlier
  • The U.S. foreclosure rate last month was one filing for every 534 homes
  • Rounding out the top 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates were California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan


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Regardless of where your home is located, Apex can help you negotiate a better settlement than you could on your own...and save you a lot of  hassle dealing with investors, realtors, buyers, and the collections department at your lender.