Rising Number Of Americans Face Risk Of Foreclosure In Second Quarter

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans at risk of foreclosure is rising, reflecting the U.S. economy's continued struggles.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday that 8.44 percent of homeowners missed at least one mortgage payment in the April-June quarter. That figure, which is adjusted for seasonal factors, rose 0.12 percentage point from the January-March period.

In a normal market, the percentage of delinquent borrowers is about 1.1 percent, according to the trade group.

Delinquent mortgages have plummeted from a record high of more than 10 percent of residential mortgages a year ago. But the decline is due partly to delays in foreclosure filings that are backlogged in several state courts, including Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and New York.

The end of a state and federal investigation into faulty foreclosure paperwork will likely lead to increased foreclosures later this year.

Analysts say the increase is especially worrisome because it's due mainly to high unemployment, which tends to raise the number of missed payments and foreclosures over time. And once delayed foreclosures are re-started, the economy could suffer a hit.

"The current processing delays mean this will not happen quickly, underlining our view that both the housing market and the economy will remain weak for a few years," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The quarterly survey covers nearly 88 percent of primary residential mortgages totaling nearly 44 million loans.

Comments

[WillofthePeople]

03:27 PM on 08/23/2011

The REAL criminals are the politicians and judges who are "administrating" how the system works. It's the system, stoopidos!

The system is what needs to be fixed... and only the people will do it. NOT the politicians & judges profiting from it.

[frank day]

03:54 PM on 08/23/2011

Until people get upset enough to get out of their armchairs and get involved,

nothing will change.

[sanfran55]

03:18 PM on 08/23/2011

How did the American Dream of owning a home turn into such an ugly reality for so many?

Deregulation of rules and flat out greed for short term big profits for a few.

We need to see jail time from some of the big operators of the subprime loan fiasco. Time to fight fire with fire.

[Realtors Are Liars]

03:04 PM on 08/23/2011

Why buy a house today when you can buy later for 60% less?

[StopMakingSense2]

01:31 PM on 08/23/2011

As the Bush/republican prosperity spurred by tax cuts and deregulation continues to sweep across the land. How prosperous are you feeling today? Does this mean it's a failed policy? Not if you ask a republican since facts aren't part of the discussion. They say lets double down and do it bigger and better expecting different results. They have faith and need nothing else!

[knewsreply]

08:58 AM on 08/23/2011

What happened with our taxpayer's bailout money that was suppose to be used to help lower foreclosures with affordable-loan rewrites and help new buyer receive affordable loans?

[Larry Lambert]

09:21 AM on 08/23/2011

The billionaires are busy using it to buy bigger yachts, and more republican congressmen -don't fret this will all trickle down

[StopMakingSense2]

01:26 PM on 08/23/2011

It was a voluntary program that relied on banks to do the right thing. In other words it was doomed from the start. The money is sitting in an account gathering dust. That's what happens when you play nice with corporations..

[mendodnem]

07:41 AM on 08/23/2011

Fanciful dream. No Repubs or Demos or teabags. Could use people in Washington who are not affiliated with any organized
party. People who are for and by the people and will represent the people. We have none of that. 99% of those in office are
there for their own benefit and those who bought them.
There is no Utopia - just a dream, just a dream.

[dmortonrei]

07:39 AM on 08/23/2011

Thanks to the galactic FAILURE of Obama's Keynesian economic experiment that has our economy STILL trying to recover from a recession that began in Dec 2007, and is now teetering on the edge of a double dip recession, many economists believe yet another wave of foreclosures is just around the corner as millions are struggling to hold on.

[Larry Lambert]

08:16 AM on 08/23/2011

Yep it his fault don't forget the depression of 1929, the viet nam war, the alamo, the sun going down in the evening, and anything else that you don't like

[dmortonrei]

08:40 AM on 08/23/2011

Are you denying Obama has just about run out of Bush blaming finger pointing excuses and this economy, or lack of it, is now Obama's.........he owns it.......and is the result of Obama's FAILED Keynesian experiment?

[AmosKnows]

01:01 AM on 08/23/2011

1.2 trillion in loans (so they say) plus 700 billion to buy the toxic assets so the banks wouldn't lose the money for writing bad loans. The same loans on which they made huge profits, paid huge bonus money and exaggerated dividends. All of which went right to the top of the food chain. Where people consolidated insane amounts of wealth. So that people could...you know, lose their homes.

[sanfran55]

03:47 PM on 08/23/2011

Can it get any more insane?

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

12:48 AM on 08/23/2011

Remember what Admiral Yamamoto said about us in WWII as his planes attacked Pearl Harbor? - "I fear we have awakened a Sleeping Giant" and filled him with a terrible resolve"--- that's just what the Banking and Credit and Mortgage Industries have done to America... and now we're coming after YOU -- don't expect any sympathy, you gave us none, don't expect to keep your McMansions - you wouldn't even let us rent and apartment - you demanded "good credit scores" as "proof" of our worth, you prevent us from returning to work with the same argument - but what you are really saying is - "You are Too Stupid to Stop Us -Too Complacent to even Vote, Get off my sidewalk Peasant -and sleep in the Gutter where you belong"...Times are changing Mr Banker, Mr Credit Industrialist, Mr Mortgager - and this year we WILL vote!

[truthfinderddw]

05:28 AM on 08/23/2011

Great Analogy!Throw the bums out. Return America back to its People!

[dmortonrei]

07:42 AM on 08/23/2011

Swallowing the propaganda?? It was the governments affirmative action minority lending quotas, CRA, that FORCED banks to lower lending standards to make loans to low income folks who could otherwise not afford a home that drove up home prices and created the housing finance bubble.

[jayneen]

10:12 AM on 08/23/2011

That's bullsh*t dmortonrei. When people took out those loans, THEY HAD JOBS and then they lost them or they had extenuating circumstances which I'm sure you could care less about. But quit trying to blame this on the "minorities" and put the blame on these greedy banks. I'll bet you are one of those people who always I mean ALWAYS blame everything on the "minorities" and "affirmative action".

[sanfran55]

04:03 PM on 08/23/2011

oh boy - it was not just "low income folks" - there was enticement for many cash-strapped middle class folks to take a second mortgage against their home.

It's certainly not just "low income folks" who are being foreclosed upon now - there are just as many expensive homes being foreclosed on - and they weren't purchased by "low income" folks.

The bottom line is that, low income or not, loans were approved and being given to people who never would have qualified 15, 20, 30 years ago. But how fabulous the money was for the subprime brokers and lenders - simply fabulous - half a million and more per year for the average subprime broker! Wowee! Capitalism at its finest!

Of course the fine print is that most of these people they loaned money to would certainly lose their homes - and the brokers/lenders/banks damn well knew it, too. Oh, well - too bad!

Let's face it: unregulated capitalism is a disaster - as we well see from this housing crisis fiasco.

And it all fed into a disgusting feeding frenzy and speculative housing market and drove up the prices of homes - some obscenely expensive - such as some uber-bubble markets like California. The realtors were lapping it up. Now they're crying because they've got to trade in their Lexus or sell their extra homes. Boo hoo.

I'm sick of the short term vision/short term profits at the expense of screwing your neighbor. Enough!

come on! wake up!

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

12:38 AM on 08/23/2011

So where are all these people going to voe to? The Banking and Credit Industry are still touting their pals the Real Estate Marketers to demand good FICO scores and "no recent bad credit" to allow you to rent from any of their clients --and the same goes for finding jobs - bad credit scores- no jobs, no bills paid = bad credit scores = no rentals = businesses going under for lack of customers, = less competition for the Big Retailers but also to where we are now - Less Profits, Banks investigated for Mortgage Fraud, Big Business crying for its stocks falling as more Middle Class investors than at any time in history - leave the Stock Market - and what happens? The Market heads down to another double digit Recession - meanwhile Congress is still touting the renewal of the Bush Tax Cuts to save the day ... Hogwash and Hogwashers- That's Congress.

[NWBrunette]

11:54 PM on 08/22/2011

The higher the number of foreclosure goes the happier the aristocracy is. They'll buy them up dirt cheap, use them as rentals, charge whatever they like and move America that much closer to a full-fledged serfdom. Too many people are too fast asleep to notice; it's like slowly boiling frogs.

[Realtors Are Liars]

12:06 AM on 08/23/2011

Buy them up? They already own millions of them.

[entitled me]

11:42 PM on 08/22/2011

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2008/09/testimony-that-will-have-you-pulling.html

Barnie Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters and Andrew Cuomo, these thugs are the reason why you are about to lose your house or have lost your home,they made the banks loan you money and put you in this position check out the link!

[MayorsRevenge]

09:35 PM on 08/22/2011

Don't you worry. Bernanke is going to weaken the dollar some more which will push oil and food prices up even higher. The result will be...pain. Lots of it.

Learn how money is created. Learn how the fed is behind forced inflation. Learn who runs the fed (corporations).

Save your money. You're going to need it.

[drp103]

09:29 PM on 08/22/2011

you can't give the rats (the US consumer/wage slave) any external help (mortgage relief), cause it would screw up the whole experiment that they've been under for the past 30 years-called "capitalism".

[Realtors Are Liars]

08:49 PM on 08/22/2011

Record foreclosures and defaults mean record high inventory which means falling prices.

Why buy a house today when you can buy later for 60% less?

[Chester Erickson]

09:21 PM on 08/22/2011

If you need housing and don't like the rental options now might be a perfectly good time to buy a house.

It's just a matter of being informed, no one should buy a house right now if they can't commit to living in it for 5-10 years, and if the payment isn't low enough to allow a generous amount of savings, because we haven't hit bottom yet.

From what I understand it isn't predicted to be anywhere near another 40% decline, but I'm on the default and foreclosure side of the market so I'd be interested in seeing the data you draw from.

[Realtors Are Liars]

09:57 PM on 08/22/2011

Great... another dishonest reaItor encouraging people to commit financial suicide by buying a house while prices are heading down.

Is there a single one of you who is honest? Just one???