Foreclosure Crisis: Still a Long Way to Go

ScottR · Chief Bottle Washer Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 332

"The nation is not even halfway through the foreclosure crisis," suggests a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending, “Lost Ground, 2011.” In the report, the Center for Responsible Lending analyzed 27 million mortgages issued over a five-year timespan.

Researchers found that at least 2.7 million mortgages issued from 2004 through 2008, or 6.4 percent, have ended in foreclosure as of February 2011. Also during that time period, researchers found that 3.6 million households — or an additional 8.3 percent — are still at immediate or serious risk of losing their homes, according to the study.

The report also included a breakdown of how the foreclosure crisis has affected different races and ethnicities. As a group, whites were found to have lost more homes than any other due to foreclosure. However, neighborhoods with high concentrations of minorities as well as low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, in general, were found to been hard hit in the foreclosure crisis, too.

Researchers found that in areas of the country that faced moderate housing price appreciation during the boom, foreclosure rates were highest for low-income borrowers, which was most evident in places like Detroit, Cleveland, and St. Louis. On the other hand, in areas with strong housing appreciation before the foreclosure crisis, such as in areas like California, Nevada, and Arizona, researchers found that more middle and higher-income borrowers faced foreclosure.

To view rates of foreclosure and serious delinquencies by your metro area, download the report.

Source: “Foreclosure Crisis Isn't Even Halfway Over, Analysis Finds,” The New York Times (Nov. 30, 2011)