Thursday, September 10, 2009

Not Over

The foreclosure crisis isn't even close to being over.

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. exceeded 300,000 for the sixth straight month as job losses that boosted the unemployment rate to a 26-year high left many homeowners unable to keep up with their mortgage payments.

A total of 358,471 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized last month, according to data provider RealtyTrac Inc. That’s up 18 percent from a year earlier, and down 0.5 percent from July, the Irvine, California-based company said in a statement. One in 357 households received a filing.


I think there's a general tendency even now to pretend that the housing bubble didn't happen, that homes were not selling for crazy overvalued prices, and a belief that once the recession is over the party will continue. It won't. Home prices won't return to their peak levels in bubble areas for a decade or more, and then only in nominal terms.