Foreclosures Hit Record Levels in August by Magdalena Rosova

In the US more homes were taken back by their lender in August than in any other month since the mortgage crisis has began. The home repossessions increased even despite the number of properties entering the foreclosure process slowed for the seventh month in a row. Just last month, banks repossessed 95,364 properties, which is 3 percent more than the previous month and 25 percent more than last year in the same month. Banks quickened repossessions to clear out their backlog of bad loans. They would like to place the foreclosed properties on the market, which is not that easy. The recovery of housing market may freeze because of high unemployment and weak consumer confidenc! e. Federal homebuyer tax credits expired in April and since that the home sales have slumped. Because of that almost one third of homes repossessed by lenders are on the market. Repossessed properties will come to market, but definitely not fast concerning a soft buyer's market. Everybody is afraid what it would do with the house prices. Therefore lenders are are putting off the foreclosure process and allowing borrowers who missed payments to stay longer in homes. In August, the number of people receiving the first default notice fell 1 percent from July. Initial defaults have fallen the past seventh months and it peaked in April 2009. The number of homes offered for sale at auction grew 9 percent from July and 2 percent from last year. If the homes are not sold at the auction they go back to the lenders.

related story (sgx18212): http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may201! 0/repo-m14.shtml...

by Magdalena Rosova for Cantell TV (http://cantell.tv)

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