Thu Dec 6, 2007 12:03 p.m. ET
By Lynn Adler
NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) – U.S. home foreclosures and the rate of homes entering the foreclosure process rose to a record in the third quarter, as homeowners battled slumping house prices and spiking loan payments, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday.
Problems with payments on all loan types drove up the pace of homes entering the foreclosure process, the trade group said in its delinquency and foreclosure survey.
About 994,000 U.S. households are in the process of foreclosure, said MBA’s chief economist Doug Duncan, adding:”Not all of them will lose their house, but that’s how many are currently at serious risk of losing their house.”
The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process rose to 1.69 percent of loans outstanding, up 0.29 percentage point from the prior quarter and up 0.64 from a year earlier.
“Over-easy monetary policy, a ‘hands off’ regulatory approach, reckless real estate speculation, and the complete abandonment of prudent lending practices by the mortgage industry created a housing bubble,” said Mike Larson, real estate analyst at Weiss Research in Jupiter, Florida.
“Now that bubble has burst we all have to deal with the consequences,” he said.
See the full article here:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-12-06T170308Z_01_N06211558_RTRIDST_0_USA-HOUSING-FORECLOSURES-UPDATE-2.XML
