North Jersey Foreclosures Has Tripled

September 1st, 2008

North Jersey Foreclosures

The real estate of North Jersey has been heavily hit in the first five months of 2008 by foreclosure homes. It is triple than what it was during the same period in 2007. The home sales have declined heavily and the foreclosures have raised sharply especially in the lower income towns of North Jersey. Between January and May 2008, about 2,800 residential properties in North Jersey were facing some problem related to foreclosure, which were about 1,000 a year earlier. This is posing as a big threat to the real estate industry of North Jersey. A majority of the properties that have been lost by the homeowners this year have gone back to the hands of the lenders.

The median home prices in Bergen County, as compared to the same period last year, have dropped down to 2.3 percent and the same in Passaic County have come down to 8.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008. But this fall in price is still better in comparison to the national declination where it is over 15 percent. Even the rate of foreclosures has increased this year in many posh towns like the Saddle River. The distressed sales apart from affecting the homeowners also bring down the values of real estate in the neighborhood as they are discounted for a fast sale. There have been about half number of home sales in North Jersey as compared to early 2006. The home sales have been down by over 70 percent in places such as Bogota, Prospect Park, Paterson, and Fairview.

According to some experts, there are several homeowners who have bought their property a few years back with zero down payment to keep their initial payments low is going to face an increase in their monthly payments in the near future. A large number of homeowners are putting calls to the social service agencies to help them out in their foreclosure homes. The effects of foreclosure are clearly visible on the working class in places such as Ridgefield Park, where people bought their home stretching far beyond their affordability.

There are many buyers who are holding back expecting for a further drop in the home price. People are now finding properties in those areas of which they could not afford to think of two years back. The time is really bad for the distressed homeowners as most of the lenders are disagreeing to negotiate.