Foreclosure Filings in U.S. Jumped 30% in February

[marmar]

Foreclosure Filings in U.S. Jumped 30% in February (Update1)
By Dan Levy


March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. climbed 30 percent in February from a year earlier as the worsening economy thwarted efforts by the government and lenders to prevent homeowners from losing property, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

A total of 290,631 homes received a default or auction notice or were seized by the lender, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said in a statement today. It was the third-highest monthly total in RealtyTrac records dating to 2005. February filings increased 6 percent from January.

“More people have lost their incomes or are underwater on their mortgages, so a new housing plan won’t change those facts by itself,” Barry Eichengreen, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview.

The U.S. housing crisis is deepening as President Barack Obama attempts a $275 billion rescue to help borrowers with sinking home values or unaffordable loans. Declining prices sapped $2.4 trillion in value from the nation’s residential market last year, according to First American CoreLogic. Prices in 20 U.S. cities have fallen every month since January 2007, the S&P/Case Shiller index shows.

Rising unemployment also is making it harder for homeowners to keep up with payments. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years, according to the Labor Department. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqtJdtiZTJtk&refer=home

[napi21]

1. I don't dispute that unemployment is affecting foreclosures, but I

wonder just how many of those foreclosures were/are on 2nd mtgs & investment houses? If someone has broken those out of the total #'s I haven't heard about it.

I know there were thousands and thousands of people speculating on real estate when those "values" kept rising 10%-30% every year.