Economisch nieuws: niet van bankier of overheid

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

De Amerikaanse maatschappij gaat op een ongekende manier op proef gesteld
worden. Ik krijg langzamerhand het gevoel naar een nakende uitbarsting van
een vulkaan te kijken.

Overigens die 8,9% is waar ik het eerder over had: de voorspelling voor
het eind van dit jaar. Nu dus in april al bereikt.
Het maandelijkse aantal nieuwe werkelozen zou nu zo'n 12% minder zijn, dus
de stijging neemt af, maar niet veel.

Groet / Cees

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYokz_rb3kbw&refer=home#

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Hit Record for Second Straight Month
By Dan Levy

 May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Foreclosure filings in the U.S. rose to a record
for the second consecutive month in April as banks increased efforts to
seize homes from delinquent borrowers.

A total of 342,038 properties received a default or auction notice or were
seized last month, RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, California, said today in a
statement. One in 374 households got a filing, the highest monthly rate
since the property data service began issuing such reports in 2005.

“What you’re seeing is the inevitable result of severe job losses,”
Nicolas Retsinas, director of housing studies at Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in an interview. “Until we stem the job
losses, we can expect to see continuing foreclosures.”

Unemployment is hampering the housing market as property prices fall. The
U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.9 percent, the highest in more than a quarter
century, the Labor Department said May 9. Home prices fell the most on
record in the first quarter to a median $169,000 amid sales of foreclosure
properties, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.

Foreclosure filings jumped 32 percent from the year-earlier period,
RealtyTrac said. Filings were little changed from March as some states
delayed seizures. Ten states accounted for three- quarters of all
foreclosures in April, with California leading the nation.

Declines Slowing?

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and former
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday there are signs the
real estate market is recovering.

“Since January we’ve seen both home sales moving up and down around a
relatively stable number and we are seeing the first signs that the rapid
decline in home prices is starting to abate,” Donovan said at an NAR
conference in Washington.

March prices fell less than in February and 17 states showed sales
increases, yesterday’s NAR report showed, as buyers took advantage of
mortgage rates below 5 percent. The Federal Reserve is purchasing
mortgage-backed securities to spur lower rates.

While price declines are slowing, it’s likely bank seizures will increase
in the coming months, RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James Saccacio
said.

“Lenders and servicers are beginning foreclosure proceedings on delinquent
loans that had been delayed by legislative and industry moratoria,”
Saccacio said.

California was No. 1 in April with 96,560 filings, a 42 percent increase
from a year earlier, RealtyTrac reported. Florida climbed 75 percent to
64,588, Nevada rose 111 percent to 16,266 and Arizona rose 40 percent to
16,245.

State Rankings

Illinois ranked fifth in filings with 13,647, up 54 percent from a year
earlier. Other states among the top 10 were Ohio with 12,324, Georgia with
11,521, Texas with 11,314, Michigan with 10,830 and Virginia with 6,254.

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate as one in 68 households there
received a filing, more than five times the national average. Bank
seizures dropped 44 percent from the previous month, RealtyTrac said.

Florida had the second highest rate at one in 135 households, almost three
times the national average, and bank seizures fell 7 percent from March.
California ranked third at one in 138 households, and Arizona was fourth
at one in 164.

Utah, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Ohio were among the other with the
10 highest foreclosure rates.

Connecticut had the 19th highest rate, one in 662 households. Filings rose
25 percent from a year earlier to 2,174.

New Jersey’s Rate

New Jersey had the 22nd highest rate, one in 695 households, and filings
fell 4 percent to 5,034. New York ranked 36th at one in 1,420 households,
and filings fell 1 percent to 5,591.

Las Vegas had the highest rate for metropolitan areas with populations of
200,000 or more. A total of 14,073 properties, or one in 56 households,
received a filing, almost seven times the national average, RealtyTrac
said.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers in Florida ranked second at one in 57 households.
The city also had the steepest price decline in the first quarter, down 59
percent from a year ago, the NAR said yesterday. Miami and Orlando ranked
ninth and tenth.

California cities ranked third through eighth: Merced, Modesto,
Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Vallejo- Fairfield, and Stockton,
according to RealtyTrac, which collects default data from 2,200 U.S.
counties representing about 90 percent of the population.

“The housing problem is now an economic problem,” Retsinas said. “On the
margins you have some investors who think they may have found the bottom,
but on the other side are foreclosures.”

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********