2011 Likely to Be Peak Year for Foreclosures
Foreclosure analysts a RealtyTrac, a leading online marketplace for foreclosures, say that foreclosures will likely peak in 2011 based on improvements in default rates.
From Investor’s Business Daily:
Standard & Poor's this week launched S&P/Experian credit indexes that include mortgage payment lateness. They show "lower proportions of default each month," said David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee. "It's telling me we're really squeezing out some of the worst that's been going on."
The index tracked an average default rate of 3.7% on first mortgages in April, down 6% vs. March and 31% vs. a year ago. The second-mortgage default rate, 2.5%, fell more.
Improvement in defaults "is the first positive sign" in a long while, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president at foreclosure watcher RealtyTrac, on a Thursday conference call.
"We're seeing loans stay in delinquency longer and longer before the first notice of default," he said.
The foreclosure backlog amounts to about 55 months of inventory, Sharga says, and 2011 is apt to be the peak year for foreclosure activity. He adds that lenders appear to be slowing foreclosures while they try to sell off homes they've repossessed.
"Then they will replenish that supply, if you will, by bringing new loans into the foreclosure process and proceeding with them," Sharga said.
If you are a Jacksonville homeowner who needs to know more about the Florida foreclosure laws, contact our Jacksonville, Florida foreclosure law firm.
Greg Gilbert
Keith Maynard
