Foreclosures: Lenders Slashing Prices

Lenders stung by the housing bust are slashing prices dramatically to rid themselves of an unprecedented number of foreclosed properties, sparking bidding wars in some places that harken back to the market's go-go years and may signal the bottom is near.

The trend is more dramatic in some parts of the country where prices skyrocketed during the housing boom and are now falling precipitously. Sales of foreclosures, vacant new homes and other distressed properties now dominate some markets, causing grief for individual homeowners who need to sell for other reasons, like a job in a new city.

Nationwide, one out of every four sales between January and March was a distressed sale, and that figure jumps to more than 50 percent in the hardest-hit areas.

Over the past year, as the housing crisis accelerated, the number of properties turned over to bank ownership more than doubled. As of April, there were more than 660,000 such properties in the U.S., up from 254,000 in April last year.

With lenders slashing prices on foreclosures at record paces, now might be a good time to contact us to see if there are any foreclosures in our market that you could get a good deal on. You never know til you ask.

Walkaway Homeowners: Fact or Fiction?

U.S. lenders claim people who owe more on their homes than they're worth are simply abandoning them, "walking away" from high mortgage payments.

Bankers say the trend is frightening because homeowners in the past have gone to great lengths to avoid foreclosure.

But the Los Angeles Times reports few banks or real estate trade groups have been able to produce hard figures about the phenomenon. Marianne Sullivan, senior vice president at Fannie Mae, said she hears more stories about walkaways but still called them "folklore."

Bruce Marks of Neighborhood Assistance Corp., a Boston group that helps homeowners, said that to the extent there are walkaways lenders should take the blame.

"Who do you see walking? They're people whose rate is about to reset and they see no way out," Marks said. "People who have a fixed-rate mortgage that was initially affordable and continues to be affordable don't walk away from their home, even when it's underwater."

Stuart Gabriel, a real estate expert at UCLA, said some of the apparent walkaways are likely to be people who bought houses as speculation and lied on mortgage applications, saying they would live in them.

What is your take on this? Do you know of anyone personally who has taken the "walk away" attitude with their home? Use the "comment" link below to tell us about it. Don't worry, your privacy is protected, no email addresses EVER get published from our reader comments.

Consumer Confidence: Worst Since '92

A key measure of consumer confidence dropped in May to the lowest level in 16 years, as Americans grew more concerned about their jobs and more pessimistic about business conditions. The index has now declined for five months in a row.

The Consumer Confidence Index is a weighted average of where consumers feel the economy is right now, and where it is headed - or the Present Situation Index and the Expectations Index.

We'd love to know your opinion.. your "consumer confidence level." Tell us what you think by clicking the comment link below.. and sounding off about YOUR Confidence Level in the current economy. Don't worry, your privacy is 100% protected. Although an email address is required to post a comment, your email address will never be published here. We'd love to hear from you.

Housing Starts Up 8.2%

Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months, a rare bit of good news in what has been the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades.

The Commerce Department reported recently that housing construction rose 8.2% in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.03 million units. A big jump in apartment construction offset further weakness in single-family homes. The gain represents a recovery after a steep slump in March building that had pushed activity to the slowest pace in 17 years.

The surprising rebound in April may be temporary, given the headwinds builders are confronting at the present — from slumping sales to soaring home foreclosures.

Even with the improvement, housing construction nationwide was 30.6% below the level of activity a year ago. The National Association of Home Builders reports that its monthly survey of builder sentiment edged down in May to a reading of 19, just above the all-time low of 18 set in December. The survey had held steady at the low level of 20 from February through April.

Homes Sales Dip, Prices Down Sharply

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales by homeowners dipped in April to an annual pace of 4.89 million, down 1% from the revised March reading of 4.94 million.

The existing home sales rate - including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - is 17.5% below the 5.93 million units sold in April 2007.

The median price of a home sold during the month fell to $202,300, down 8% from $219,900 a year ago. Prices are being pushed down by the growing number of existing homes on the market.

Before the start of the current housing slump, it had been 11 years since prices had fallen compared to a year earlier.

Homes available for sale at the end of April rose 10.5% to 4.55 million, which represents an 11.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 10.0-month supply in March.