foreclosure news
Housing Crisis Still on the Rampage with More Forecloser Homes
There was a five percent increase in the number of foreclosure homes during the third quarter of 2009 when compared to the second quarter of the same year. The increase occurred despite the presence of the Making Home Affordable program of the federal government that attempts to help borrowers undergoing financial hardships to get a loan modification to reduce their monthly payments. Apparently, the government program was overpowered by the large increase in the number of people without jobs.
There were almost 938,000 foreclosure homes during the period of July to September 2009, which is approximately 48,000 homes more than the preceding quarter. If the statistics are extrapolated to the end of 2009, there would be a total of about 3.5 million foreclosure filings for the whole year, which is much larger than the 2.3 million filings recorded for 2008.
The primary reason for the rise in the foreclosure rate, in the spite of many economists claiming that the recession is over, has been the unemployment rate, which has attained a record level of 9.8 percent for last the 26 years. To make matters worse, the unemployment rate is predicted to continue to rise until it will reach its peak in the middle of 2010. Mortgage lenders are trying to help by permitting the homeowners to be delayed by three to six months in their payments as they look for work. Unfortunately, looking for work at a time when the unemployment rate has reached an all-time high is very tough.
The Administration of President Obama had recently reported that its initiative has attained an important milestone when more than 500,000 loan modifications have been granted. However, the rise in the number of people defaulting on their loans has been much faster than the increase in the number of people getting loan modifications.
Mortgage lenders have been doing their share in minimizing the effects of the housing crisis by reducing the rate at which they are filing foreclosures. They have been attempting to assess whether homeowners would be eligible for the Making Home Affordable program of the government. However, analysts believe that a large number of these homeowners would not be eligible and they predict that more forecloser homes will become available in 2010. This is expected to pull down home market values further. Banks and other lenders are unable to find a loan modification plan that is suitable for the present income capabilities of the homeowners in view of the gravity of their financial hardships. For more foreclosure news stop by http://www.bestforeclosurenews.com
