Banks repossess 1 million homes in 2010

[somone]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/13/AR2011011300042.html

Banks repossess 1 million homes in 2010
By JANNA HERRON

NEW YORK -- The bleakest year in foreclosure crisis has only just begun.

Lenders are poised to take back more homes this year than any other since the U.S. housing meltdown began in 2006. About 5 million borrowers are at least two months behind on their mortgages and more will miss payments as they struggle with job losses and loans worth more than their home's value, industry analysts forecast.

The outlook comes after banks repossessed more than 1 million homes in 2010, RealtyTrac said Thursday. That marked the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on records dating back to 2005.

One in 45 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last year, or a record high of 2.9 million homes. That's up 1.67 percent from 2009...

[Mark Maker]

1. Decline in U.S. housing now greater than in Depression

Decline in U.S. housing now greater than in Depression

U.S. home market sees milestone
The meltdown of the U.S. housing market now has the ugly distinction as having eclipsed that of the collapse of the Great Depression.

A new report from Zillow.com, a real estate site based in the United States, shows the peak-to-trough plunge in U.S. home values reached 26 per cent in November, down from the June 2006 high. That's a shade more than the 25.9-per-cent drop between 1928 and 1933, Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries said yesterday.

November, Mr. Humphries wrote, marked the 53rd consecutive monthly decline in national home values, bringing them to the levels of October 2003.

"More worrisome, the pace of home value declines also notched up again with the monthly depreciation rate increasing to 0.78 per cent in November," he said. "This is the highest rate of monthly depreciation since February 2009."

Foreclosure liquidations fell to 0.94 of every 1,000 homes, down from 1.15 in October, though this was no doubt an "artificial dip" as evictions slowed markedly due to the U.S. foreclosure scandal.

"Look for the liquidation rate to increase again in December and likely reach new peak levels in 2011," Mr. Humphries said.

The fat lady hasn't sung yet.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/top-business-stories/decline-in-us-housing-now-greater-than-in-depression/article1865438/