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发帖数: 481 | 1 More US homes facing foreclosure risk in June
By ALEX VEIGA | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Banks are increasingly placing homes with unpaid
mortgages on a countdown that could deliver a swell of new foreclosed
properties onto the market by early next year, potentially weighing further
on home values.
June provided the latest evidence of this trend, as the number of U.S. homes
entering the foreclosure process for the first time increased on an annual
basis for the second month in a row, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc
. said Thursday.
California in particular saw a big spike in foreclosure starts, or homes
placed on the foreclosure path for the first time. They increased 18 percent
versus June last year, the firm said.
The increase in foreclosure starts comes as banks make up for time lost last
year as the mortgage-lending industry grappled with allegations that it had
processed foreclosures without verifying documents.
The nation's biggest mortgage lenders reached a $25 billion settlement in
February with state officials. And that's cleared the way for banks to
address their backlog of unpaid mortgages.
Lenders initiated foreclosure on 12 percent of the loans behind in payment
in June — the highest level since the first half of 2009, according to
Fitch Ratings.
"These properties that are starting the foreclosure process are mostly
homeowners who likely have been missing their payments for a year or more
and just now are officially starting the foreclosure process," said Daren
Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac.
That means the latest crop of homes entering the foreclosure process does
not signal that there is a fresh wave of homeowners in distress and missing
payments.
Still, the increase in foreclosure starts sets the stage for a potential
increase in homes sold at a discount via short sale, when the lender agrees
to accept less than what is owed on the seller's mortgage. Others could end
up taken back by banks and placed on the market also at a sharp discount.
Either way, short of homeowners obtaining loan modifications or otherwise
arranging to exit the foreclosure process, many of these properties could
end up adding to the inventory of foreclosed homes on the market, dragging
down the values of nearby homes.
Those homes may not hit the market for many months, however.
In the second quarter, it took an average of 378 days for a U.S. home to
complete the foreclosure process, or the point when a bank takes over the
property, RealtyTrac said. That's up from an average of 370 days in the
first three months of the year and a record going back to the first quarter
of 2007, the firm said.
In New York, it took an average of 1,001 days for the foreclosure process to
run its course in the second quarter, down from 1,056 days in the first
quarter.
Of the homes that entered the foreclosure process in June, those that end up
as bank-owned properties would likely hit the market a year from now,
Blomquist said.
"However, if they take the short sale route, it may be sooner," he said.
Short sales take, on average, 319 days to sell from the time they enter
foreclosure.
A stronger housing market could mitigate the impact of future foreclosures
on home prices, and home sales are expected to end up ahead of last year.
But many economists still say the market is years away from a full recovery.
There are some 3 million U.S. homes behind on their mortgages, according to
the Mortgage Bankers Association.
An additional 629,000 homes were on banks' books as of June, but not yet
sold. That translates into a 15-month supply, at the current pace of sales,
according to RealtyTrac.
And nearly 13 million home loans are underwater, or owing more than the
house is worth. Those properties could be at higher risk for entering the
foreclosure process.
Even so, the backlog in foreclosures that banks are still dealing with has
slowed the pace of home repossessions.
RealtyTrac forecasts some 700,000 homes will be repossessed by lenders this
year, down from about 1 million last year. |
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