on another front, have you seen what we've learned about the housing market in the last few days
all 3 market indicators---home SALES, home VALUES and home FORECLOSURES are at all time bads
"home sales are sliding, prices are stalling and foreclosures are rising," according to AP
worse, the fed next week is gonna end its efforts to hold down mortgage rates, and at the end of the month the tax break for first time buyers expires
we learned yesterday that new home sales for february fell for the fourth straight month and hit an all time low
the day before commerce reported that the sales of existing homes also declined, a third straight month, reaching a nadir not seen since july
foreclosures have topped 300,000 for eleven straight months, with no cellar in sight
"that's because hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes have yet to hit the market at deeply discounted prices," reports AP
according to AP,
"THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S PROGRAM TO PREVENT FORECLOSURES HAS SO FAR BEEN A DUD"
"only 170,000 homeowners had completed the loan modification process as of last month, out of 1.1 million who started it over the past year"
according to tarp inspector general neil barofsky, the man who ratted out tax cheat geithner for ordering aig to keep secrets from the sec, "the program risks helping few... merely spreading out the foreclosure crisis over the course of several years"
and, according to bloomberg,
"MORE THAN HALF OF US BORROWERS WHO RECEIVED LOAN MODIFICATIONS ON DELINQUENT MORTGAGES DEFAULTED AGAIN AFTER NINE MONTHS"
"the re-default rate of loans modified in the first quarter of 2009 was 51.5 percent by the end of the year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision said in a joint report today"
the figure climbed to 57.9 when reckoned over the span of the previous 12 months, bloomberg continues
"the number of homes with mortgage payments at least 60 days late climbed 2.39 million in the fourth quarter, up 13.1 percent from the prior three months and 49.6 percent from the year earlier period, the quarterly Mortgage Metrics report said"
after all the crap we've been thru to get down here as low as we are,
FORECLOSURE RATES ARE STILL RISING
and at a catastrophic climb
"about 4.5 million foreclosures filings are expected in 2010, according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine, California-based seller of default data"
"a government watchdog report [that'd be barofsky] released today criticized the government’s main foreclosure prevention effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, for 'spreading out the foreclosure crisis' over several years by failing to help enough troubled borrowers"
see? i told you
he's concerned that "large amounts of borrowers [will] simply re-default and end up facing foreclosure anyway"
in other words, too many folks, if you continue to bail them out, will just walk away, take the money and just walk away
ya think?
how many of us warned that if you just go and bail out all these folks, so many of em our friends and family members, within 6 months they'll be right back where they were, on the phone and begging for more help
so, what's obama's solution, this time?
well, first he has to go off to iowa to SELL health care
LOL!
and then, what next?
why, just more of the same, natch
he's going to "require lenders to temporarily slash or eliminate mortgage payments for many borrowers who are unemployed," reports wapo
unbelievable
washingtonpost.com
Sales of New U.S. Homes Dropped in February to Lowest on Record - Bloomberg.com
Housing market's recovery appears at risk - Boston.com
Half of U.S. Home Loan Modifications Default Again (Update1) - Bloomberg.com