Not really a surprise that Iowa foreclosures were up in 2010. But I was surprised to see Cedar Rapids take as big a hit as it did. They were up 53% from the previous year.
Compare that to Des Moines and West Des Moines which showed a 12.2% increase.
The Quad Cities actually showed only a .98% decline from ’09 (although compared to ’08 the number was a whopping 35.7 increase).
Nationally the number of homes in foreclosure at the end of 2010 represented a 1.7% increase over the prev year.
According to an article in The Des Moines Register:
Iowa’s fourth-quarter foreclosure rate rose to 2.92 percent from 2.79 percent a year earlier, a national report showed.
But the rate of delinquent loans in Iowa has been dropping steadily, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in its quarterly national survey. Of 354,738 home loans in Iowa, about 6 percent were past due, more than a full percentage point drop from a year earlier.
The number of home loans more than 90 days past due dropped almost a full percentage point as the most at-risk mortgages passed into foreclosure in the last three months of 2010.
The improved outlook is reflected across the country, according to the survey.
Total delinquencies, not including loans in foreclosure, are now at their lowest level nationally since the end of 2008. Mortgages only one payment past due are now at their lowest level since the end of 2007, the beginning of the recession.
“Perhaps most importantly, loans three payments or more past due have fallen from an all-time high delinquency rate of 5.02 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2010 to 3.63 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010,” said Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief economist. “While delinquency and foreclosure rates are still well above historical norms, we have clearly turned the corner.”
According to entry written by Alex Veiga, foreclosed houses in America are on track for One Million (yes – 7 zeros) for 2010! Again – 1 million foreclosed houses!!
Financial lenders are working their way through huge back-log of delinquent mortgage holders. Not all of those will necessarily end up foreclosed houses, but many probably will. So far this year over half a million foreclosed houses in the US. If that pace continues we will surpass the 900k foreclosed houses in 09 (according to Realty Track).
Just to put this in perspective in the past, a figure nearer 100,000 foreclosed houses /year has been the average.
One aspect of this crises making it even more difficult for families to cope – is that many lenders are refusing to refinance loans in order to provide lower payments and rates. It can take around 15 months for a loan to progress from 30 days overdue to ultimately being sold and joining the ranks of foreclosed houses in America. So in a lot of cases – just a little cooperation and compromise on the part of the lender could mean the difference between losing everything and hanging on to survive the storm.
Here is another staggering figure. Around 1,700,000 mortgage holders have received notices warning of foreclosure in the first 6 months of 2010 – one of many steps in the foreclosure procedure. That figure amounts to 1 in 78 homes in America!
Again 1 in 78 homeowners have received foreclosure warning notices from their lender!! Just wow! Scary stuff.
Lets hope the government can find a way to force our lenders to work with struggling home owners more efficiently and at least stem the tide of these foreclosed houses which are becoming more and more of a strain on the entire economy.
Needless to say, whatever help we can get in the form of government intervention and “pressure” on our lending institutions, it seems likely, to me anyway, that downward pricing pressure will be with the housing market for quite some time to come.
I’m always skeptical of government “statistics”. My cynicle side always feels the purpose of such numbers is to shape the public’s perceptions,based on what the governemnt wants the public to believe rather than what the actual reality is.
But that being said, my gut feeling is that this article in the Des Moines Register is correct in that whatever the data suggests for the nation as a whole, the rate of Iowa home repossessions has not topped out yet.
I’m no economist, but common sense tells you that with the unemployment and business health outlook for the near future looking so grim, there is no way we have seen the worst.
