Americans receiving foreclosure notices reached a record high of 2.9 million in 2010, according to new data from RealtyTrac. The company, which keeps the largest database of foreclosures, auction and bank-owned homes in the country, revealed more than 1 million people lost their homes last year, even with notices leveling off at the end of the year.
Filings Not Much Higher than 2009
While foreclosure filings were the highest our nation has seen to date, the number of filings and repossessed homes were only 1.7 percent higher than in 2009, which just shows how many people have lost their homes in the past couple of years.
Even more unsettling is the fact that robo-signing scandal, which resulted in most major mortgage lenders and servicers freezing their filing processes, slowed foreclosures considerably last year. In fact, in November, we reported that the foreclosure freeze produced a 9-percent drop in home repossessions.
If foreclosures were allowed to continue as normal last year, the filings could have been as high as 3 million with actual repossession reaching 1.2 million.
Foreclosures to Increase in 2011
Many people were able to keep their homes for a few extra months, so their foreclosure process carried over into 2011. This means the record high we saw in 2010 is expected to be higher in 2011.
Some have wondered why the government programs created to help people keep their homes haven’t prevented the high number of foreclosures. For some reason, programs like Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) couldn’t seem to get seem to get off the ground.
According to a recent CNN Money report, by April 2010, there were 10 new defaults for every HAMP modification. In June, Fitch Ratings reported that three-quarters of all HAMP modifications would eventually re-default.
Most experts predict the foreclosure rate will get worse before it improves and American homeowners feel the same way. A Trulia.com and RealtyTrac survey released in December revealed that most Americans (58 percent) believe the market won’t recover until 2013 or later. The numbers prove that the likelihood of seeing any major improvements in the industry is slim for many years to come.
[...] filing freeze resulted in a 9 percent foreclosure drop just before the end of the year. Had it not been for this occurrence, it is likely that the number [...]
[...] filing freeze resulted in a 9 percent foreclosure drop just before the end of the year. Had it not been for this occurrence, it is likely that the number [...]