The decline in home prices has been a much discussed topic in recent times. In metropolitan areas the effect of this fall is being felt acutely in neighbourhoods dominated by low income families or minorities. Areas in the outer suburbs have also been hard hit.

The situation is being attributed to the high number of loans given when the housing market peaked in these areas. Many of these loans were given without sound financial basis. As a result defaulters are aplenty and foreclosures have become the order of the day.

According to Rick Sharga, Vice President, Irvine California Realty Track, first time buyers investing in overvalued real estate on the basis of risky loans have contributed significantly to the situation.

Real estate specialist and researcher Stan Humpheries of Zillow.com opines that the housing boom was largely dependant on land on the fringes of urban areas and hence it is these areas that are now feeling the ill effects of foreclosure intensively. According to him, many people prefer living close to the core of an urban area as this implies shorter commuting time and greater access to amenities. Thus housing in the suburbs holds value better, ensuring that builders concentrate much of their efforts on the perimeters of urban areas when trying to increase housing supply.

A study conducted by Impresa of Portland, Oregon points out that the distance of a neighbourhood from a city’s downtown area and the decline in home prices is interlinked. Called “Driven to the Brink” and conducted for the CEOs of the Cities Group, the study has found that as the price of gas crossed the $2 per gallon mark, home price gains began slowing down. According to Joe Cortright, an economist with Impresa, the study found that the further away from downtown a locality was situated the greater was the decline. This was true of metro areas across the country , with cities as different as Portland, Chicago, Tampa, Florida and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania all showing a consistent pattern.

The study further underlines that some economically weaker areas have high foreclosure rates because mortgage brokers have shown a tendency to give greater loans in neighbourhoods that were previously ignored. This is a reflection of the current global trend of investment based on the income from mortgages.

Congress is planning to remedy the situation, says the study, by encouraging state and city governments to buy foreclosed real estate in economically backward areas. It hopes that this will bring down the number of vacant properties and more units will become available at affordable prices.

Search Foreclosed Homes

• California Foreclosed Homes
• Florida Foreclosed Homes
• Nevada Foreclosed Homes
• Arizona Foreclosed Homes
• Oregon Foreclosed Homes
• Colorado Foreclosed Homes

Popularity: 7% [?]

As more and more foreclosures increase due to homeowners falling behind their mortgage deals, there leaves little to be written or left on account of mortgage payments. The number of filings is slow to be delivered, and the driving number of homes on foreclosure is rising by 65% more, compared to the same time last year. Home values continue their downward spiral on a larger scale than before.

RealtyTrac has not been able to provide the adequate statistics required to note the changes in the greater rate of foreclosures. Whereby home prices have fallen, the number of second-hand houses too has been sold to mainland buyers. The rates in places like Hawaii have been quite higher than Oahu currently, coming as a surprise. Over 243,353 homes have received a nationwide fill-up. During this time last year, there had been just 147,708 homes receiving notices of being foreclosed. So, looks like the rising rates last year did not help much to pack in a corrective measure seal. About 65% higher than last year, foreclosure rates still tend to reach for the skies.

States such as Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida are among the hardest struck under a full blown foreclosure crisis. The upper class metropolitan areas in California and Florida have had nine out of the ten major areas devastated with the highest foreclosure hits. Florida’s rate of foreclosure filings has been particularly alarming in April. The Tampa Bay area has been voted to be the worst among all the metros. A high number of filings (about 35,264) had been recorded with the state of Florida with a 17% rise since March and 146% rise compared to April last year.

Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater have already seen a 9% increase in their filings in April. Florida got edged out by Arizona for its strange and overwhelming rise in foreclosure filings. Nevada and California became the primary and secondary states to have experienced this distinction. The California based real estate statistics firm, RealtyTrac, has kept a count of all these foreclosure filings for statistical and economical analysis. There have also been notices of bank repossessions, auctions, etc. not accounted for here in these figures.

On a widespread nationwide scale, one out of all 519 households received a notice last month. These filings were reportedly on 243,353 properties with a 4% rise as compared to the previous month of March. There has been approximately 65% rise in foreclosure filings in April 2008 as compared to April 2007.

Search Foreclosed Homes

• California Foreclosed Homes
• Florida Foreclosed Homes
• Nevada Foreclosed Homes
• Arizona Foreclosed Homes
• Hawaii Foreclosed Homes
• Colorado Foreclosed Homes

Popularity: 8% [?]

As the real estate industry in Florida keep on hiking up with their giant rise in foreclosures, The Irvine, a California-based company, said that Florida had 35,264 properties involved in some kind of foreclosure related issues in April itself. This is also a rise of 16.6% since March and a height of 146% since a year back. The second highest rate of foreclosure rising is the current one, closely following California. The statistics represent that one out of every 242 homes gets foreclosed here. Though a mere 2% of households keep getting foreclosed nationwide, the present rate of foreclosure rising in any state, contribute a great deal to wreck havoc in the overall economy.

James Saccacio of RealtyTrac reports that in the course of this year, areas in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, continue to be particularly susceptible to greater hits of the foreclosure crisis. This would in a way multiply the dangers of incurring higher property taxes, eroding the values of existing homes, and putting the entire municipal budgets into a serious pressure. The bloated inventories to the buying and selling of properties have been largely the result of full grown foreclosures in the above mentioned states.

Areas like Vallejo in California had to file for a severe case of bankruptcy with the report of the sixth highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Both Florida and California continue to be on an upswing with their massive rate of increase in their foreclosures, and 9 out of their top 10 metropolitan areas have experienced really high foreclosure rates. The Tampa-St. Petersburg area does not come in the national highest ranking of foreclosed properties. Nonetheless the main Florida metros, as listed are Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No.5, Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce at No.9 and Fort Lauderdale at No.10.

Foreclosures.com, however, has offered slightly different statistics, reporting that 44,825 households claimed to be under foreclosure in April itself. This is a rise of about 2.4% since March. Also, this claim makes the foreclosure rates higher by 22% since the beginning of the first year. During the first four months of this year, Florida seems to have experienced a filing of 162,316 which is the highest in the nation so far this year. Hillsborough County’s foreclosure count revealed it to be pretty stable between March and April. But, they are again on the rise by 46% since the start of the year. Pinnelas County is again up by 12% since the last month but they are factually revealed to be down by 8.1% since the count at the beginning of the year.

Search Foreclosed Homes

• California Foreclosed Homes
• Florida Foreclosed Homes
• Nevada Foreclosed Homes
• Arizona Foreclosed Homes
• Oregon Foreclosed Homes
• Colorado Foreclosed Homes

Popularity: 5% [?]