While we debate charts, graphs, a stark headline just hit the aggregators, Foreclosure Filings in U.S. Reach Record 1.5 Million :
U.S. foreclosure filings hit a record in the first half, a sign that job losses and falling property prices deepened the housing recession, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
More than 1.5 million properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in the six months through June, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said today in a statement. That’s a 15 percent increase from the year earlier. One in 84 U.S. households received a filing.
One in 84 is 1.2% of all homeowners in the United States just were foreclosed on in just a 6 month period!
Even worse, One in eight Americans is now late on a payment or already in foreclosure, the Washington-based mortgage group said. Assuming "Americans" means homeowners, this implies 12.5% of all people who own homes are in huge fat deep trouble!
and check this projection out:
As many as 3.2 million U.S. households will get a foreclosure filing by the end of the year
That means all homeowners being foreclosed on will increase to 2.6% in one year!
What is even more funky, in Nevada the foreclosure rate is 6.25% and we still have pockets of foreclosures happening in Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California.
Now I think we need some real data, since we have such regional pockets of disaster, on what precisely is going on in these areas. What are the details to have regional pockets look like foreclosure war zones? Are these illegal immigrants, poor people who had to work 3 jobs to stay afloat or is it a foreclosure begets a foreclosure begets a foreclosure....or it is a certain type of loan, distributed unevenly, or where the prices so high, only a millionaire could have originally afforded the payments....
What is clear foreclosures are epidemic.
Here is the Realitytrak press release:
RealtyTrac® (realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Midyear 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows a total of 1,905,723 foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 1,528,364 U.S. properties in the first six months of 2009, a 9 percent increase in total properties from the previous six months and a nearly 15 percent increase in total properties from the first six months of 2008. The report also shows that 1.19 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 84) received at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of the year.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 336,173 U.S. properties in June, the fourth straight monthly total exceeding 300,000 and helping to boost the second quarter total to the highest quarterly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005. Foreclosure filings were reported on 889,829 U.S. properties in the second quarter, an increase of nearly 11 percent from the previous quarter and a 20 percent increase from the second quarter of 2008.
Housing is bottoming
That's what I heard. In fact, author George Akerlof is talking about a New Housing Bubble.
I was wondering how that bubble is going to happen with this happening today?
yeah, Cramer said it, must be true
Whole bunches of folks have declared a bottom in housing, so of course it must be true!
We'll just ignore the fact no one can afford the prices still without a job and assuredly cannot get 20% down together.
This MGIC is huge, might do an Instapopulist on that and link to this report on top of it if you have more intel.
Although I am really wondering about insurance generally. It seems when something happens they spend all of their money figuring out how to not pay up.
I went shopping for auto insurance and it was a joke! I mean they won't replace for a new car, or equivalent, this isn't covered, that isn't covered....it was like I am paying an extortion fee to not get arrested. This is just PE (personal experience) but it made me wonder if the coverage and payout of insurance generally as declined while fees increase, esp. auto. It's obviously hugely profitable, we're swamped with TV ads daily, which implies quite the profit scam in my view (to be able to pay for that flood to the point you want to step on all lizards and squish them as well as do serious violence to any poor woman with heavy make up wearing a white smock!)