Foreclosures Slow 8% In November
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In November, 307,000 Americans received a foreclosure notice, which was down 8 percent from the previous month, according to RealtyTrac. The number was still up 18% from last year.
While today's number was encoraging, for the second consecutive year the number of foreclosure filings in the U.S. will reach a record high, with 3.9 million Americans in default receiving notices in 2009.
The number of foreclosures will surpass the record set last year when 3.2 million foreclosures were filed as continuing rampant unemployment and weak prices for homes are battering the housing the market.
"November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we've seen since February," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
States are attempting to prevent foreclosures by delaying the processes, which along with the Obama backed foreclosure prevention effort, helped to lower the results in the month. Economists expect that the worst days still lie ahead for the foreclosure crisis.
The housing market is expected to remain weak next year, pushing a new wave of Americans into foreclosure as borrowers fall out of loan modification programs and unemployment continues to cripple the consumer.
According to a report from Lender Processing Services Inc. for every one loan that improved in the first 10 months of the year, three went bad.
Nevada had the worst foreclosure rate in November, followed by Florida, California, Arizona and Idaho. Merced, California had the highest rate, with one in 83 homes receiving a foreclosure notice. Las Vegas had been at the top of that list for four-consecutive months.
November did bring the fourth straight month of declines in the number of foreclosures, dropping 15 percent from the peak in July. However, significant headway will remain unseen unless the unemployment rate begins to dramatically improve.
While today's number was encoraging, for the second consecutive year the number of foreclosure filings in the U.S. will reach a record high, with 3.9 million Americans in default receiving notices in 2009.
The number of foreclosures will surpass the record set last year when 3.2 million foreclosures were filed as continuing rampant unemployment and weak prices for homes are battering the housing the market.
"November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we've seen since February," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
States are attempting to prevent foreclosures by delaying the processes, which along with the Obama backed foreclosure prevention effort, helped to lower the results in the month. Economists expect that the worst days still lie ahead for the foreclosure crisis.
The housing market is expected to remain weak next year, pushing a new wave of Americans into foreclosure as borrowers fall out of loan modification programs and unemployment continues to cripple the consumer.
According to a report from Lender Processing Services Inc. for every one loan that improved in the first 10 months of the year, three went bad.
Nevada had the worst foreclosure rate in November, followed by Florida, California, Arizona and Idaho. Merced, California had the highest rate, with one in 83 homes receiving a foreclosure notice. Las Vegas had been at the top of that list for four-consecutive months.
November did bring the fourth straight month of declines in the number of foreclosures, dropping 15 percent from the peak in July. However, significant headway will remain unseen unless the unemployment rate begins to dramatically improve.
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