According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings surged by 33% from June of 2008 to June of 2009. Additionally, filings are up 5% month over month from May to June. In other words, despite Obama's housing plan, the pace of foreclosures is accelerating.
According to the AP, "It was the fourth-straight month in which more than 300,000 households received a foreclosure filing".
Not that anybody should be surprised, Bush's loan modification plan didn't work either, why would this one? The problem of course is not just housing affordability, but home values. As long as home values continue to deteriorate, loan modifications will only act as a temporary mechanism to delay the inevitable. If a homeowner is under water, and an estimated 15.4 million of them are, a foreclosure is still a real and present danger.
The macro view of this 33% year over year surge in foreclosure filing activity is that according to the NAR, existing home sales in May were down -3.6% from last year. So not only is there a supply of homes that are about to flood the market again, before the market has had the time to absorb the sub-prime tsunami, but demand has deteriorated since last year despite record housing affordability and an $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. The supply and demand imbalance for housing continues to deteriorate, Jim Cramer. This means home values are going lower.
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