Foreclosures Mount as Retail Sales Decline
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John Q pulls back somemore... U.S. retail sales declined 0.6% in February vs 0.4% gain in January.
The engine done died... Despite a 4% decline, U.S. home foreclosure filings jumped 60% YOY and bank seizures more than doubled
in February as rates on adjustable mortgages rose and property owners were unable to sell or refinance amid falling prices.
About $460 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled to reset this year and another $420 billion will rise in 2011.
Homeowners faced higher payments as Q4 home prices fell 8.9%, the biggest drop in 20 years as measured by the S&P/Case Shiller home price index.
Susan Wachter, professor of real estate at the Wharton Business School:
"With declining prices, there is a pervasive problem of not being able to refinance or sell, This is continuing to worsen, It tells us that we are not at a bottom."
Rick Sharga, EVP of RealtyTrac:
"Foreclosure filings are likely to be explosive in May and June as more payments jump, after remaining at current levels this month and next.
We've got depreciating home values and loans resetting at an outstanding volume just as banks are retrenching.
Even people who want to buy a home now are having trouble getting a mortgage."
Nevada continued to document the highest foreclosure rate among the states, +1.3%; YOY +68%
with one in every 165 households receiving a foreclosure filing — more than three times the national average.
#2 California -6.7%; YOY +210% 1 in 242; #3 Florida +7.5%; YOY +70% 1 in 254; #4 Arizona +6.5%; YOY +210% 1 in 264.
The Cape-Coral/Fort Myers, Florida, metropolitan area recorded the highest foreclosure rate of 229 metro areas tracked in the report.
Its figure of one per 84 households was almost seven times the national average. Hattip to Bloomberg.
John Q pulls back somemore... U.S. retail sales declined 0.6% in February vs 0.4% gain in January.
The engine done died... Despite a 4% decline, U.S. home foreclosure filings jumped 60% YOY and bank seizures more than doubled
in February as rates on adjustable mortgages rose and property owners were unable to sell or refinance amid falling prices.
About $460 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled to reset this year and another $420 billion will rise in 2011.
Homeowners faced higher payments as Q4 home prices fell 8.9%, the biggest drop in 20 years as measured by the S&P/Case Shiller home price index.
Susan Wachter, professor of real estate at the Wharton Business School:
"With declining prices, there is a pervasive problem of not being able to refinance or sell, This is continuing to worsen, It tells us that we are not at a bottom."
Rick Sharga, EVP of RealtyTrac:
"Foreclosure filings are likely to be explosive in May and June as more payments jump, after remaining at current levels this month and next.
We've got depreciating home values and loans resetting at an outstanding volume just as banks are retrenching.
Even people who want to buy a home now are having trouble getting a mortgage."
Nevada continued to document the highest foreclosure rate among the states, +1.3%; YOY +68%
with one in every 165 households receiving a foreclosure filing — more than three times the national average.
#2 California -6.7%; YOY +210% 1 in 242; #3 Florida +7.5%; YOY +70% 1 in 254; #4 Arizona +6.5%; YOY +210% 1 in 264.
The Cape-Coral/Fort Myers, Florida, metropolitan area recorded the highest foreclosure rate of 229 metro areas tracked in the report.
Its figure of one per 84 households was almost seven times the national average. Hattip to Bloomberg.
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