It’s hardly the way to end the week, but the latest numbers on foreclosures speak for themselves.
Again proving that the bottom in housing is nowhere in sight.
In any other week these figures would have been the ones to make the headlines.
Here’s the latest.
From CNNMoney by Les Christie entitled: Foreclosures up a record 81% in 2008
“U.S. foreclosure filings spiked by more than 81% in 2008, a record, according to a report released Thursday, and they’re up 225% compared with 2006.
A total of 861,664 families lost their homes to foreclosure last year, according to RealtyTrac, which released its year-end report Thursday. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings issued during 2008, which means that one of every 54 households received a notice last year.
“Clearly the foreclosure prevention programs implemented to date have not had any real success in slowing down this foreclosure tsunami,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac in a statement.
And despite those efforts on the part of both the government and the banking industry to quell the housing crisis, defaults continued to climb as 2008 came to an end. Foreclosure filings were up 17% in December over November, and rose 41% compared with December of 2007.
“The big jump in December foreclosure activity was somewhat surprising given the moratoria enacted by both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, along with programs from some of the major lenders and loan servicers aimed at delaying foreclosure actions against distressed homeowners,” said Saccacio.
Both of the government-sponsored mortgage giants suspended foreclosures starting November 26, 2008 through January 31, 2009.
The devastating numbers are unlikely to improve soon.
“I don’t see how we can avoid three million foreclosures again in 2009,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac spokesman. His company now has nearly a million sales listings for bank-owned homes.
Three million foreclosures in 2009?… Now that is ugly.
