Foreclosures Increase as Banks Start to End Voluntary Foreclosure Abatements

According to this Ritholtz.com article, Voluntary Foreclosure Abatements Ending, banks are starting to end their volunatry foreclosure abatements due to the increasing number of delinquent loans piling up.  This is after the banks have changed the definition of a delinquent loan from 60 days to 120 days and even 180 days.  Per my previous post, the banks are trying to make things appear better than they are.  Mark my words, it will fail.

Government Meddling and Banks' Incompetence Will Cause More Home Price Declines

According to this RISMEDIA article, Are Banks Withholding Foreclosed Homes to Prop Sales?, banks are only marketing 30%-50% of the foreclosed homes they have on their books.  The article cites the possible reasons for this including government intervention in the form of foreclosure moratoria, banks' hopes that the government will offer them more than the foreclosed homes are worth and banks' unwillingness to take the losses now.  Unfortunately, I predict that the result of all of this is ultimately going to be a flood of these foreclosed homes coming on the market all at once whent eh pressure finally builds up to a peak, or a continued foreclosure problem for years to come as these homes keep coming onto the market even after the foreclosure problem has subsided.  The fact is you cannot escape reality forever.

Prices Still Need to Decline to Make Homes Affordable Again

According to this Forbes.com article, How Low Will Real Estate Go?, home prices need to decline substantially in or der to bring them in line with median incomes, especially given the rising unemployment and increasing foreclosures environment.  Predictably, the article lists the top 10 (or worst 10) markets as being in Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada.  However, even outside these devastated markets other markets in the US will still decline with may seeing double digit declines.  This will result in more homeowners being underwater (i.e. negative equity), which has been shown to increase foreclosures, which in turn increase the rate of home price decline thus creating a nasty cycle of home price declines.  This will continue to get worse for the next 1-2 years.

Tennessee Foreclosures Filings Increase Nearly 20% in March 2009

According to this article in the Memphis Busines Journal, RealtyTrac: Tennessee foreclosures up in March but trending down in 1Q, foreclosures increased in March 2009 compared to February 2009 by 19.7% and by 13.1% when March 2009 was compared to March 2008.  According to the article, the overall foreclosures in the 1^st Quarter of 2009 are 16.3% lower than the 1^st Quarter of 2008.  Unfortunately, the writer of the article used an article of the title that misrepresents the facts.  The sad truth is that in order for foreclosures in the first quarter of 2009 relative to 2008 and still have foreclosures soar in March 2009 by 19.7% it means that in January 2009 foreclosures dropped substantially, but that drop was followed by huge increases.  It is normal for foreclosures to be low in January so this is not abnormal.  However, a near 20% increase for March is not good.  According to the article, Tennessee has one foreclosure filing per 263 households.  That ranks 17^th nationally.  For comparison purposes, Pennsylvania (my home state) has only one foreclosure per 464 households.  This means Tennessee’s foreclosure rate is 76% higher than Pennsylvania’s rate.  Not good.  Contrary to whatever nonsense and spin is out there in the media foreclosures are going to increase for the next several months, if not longer due to general economic problems (think unemployment) and continuing financial problems (think bank failures).

Home Prices Still Need to Decline More to be "Affordable"

Home affordability is a reltaive thing.  However, that affordability should not be based on interest rates.  It should be based on income and housing prices - in other words the cash value of the home.  According to this Wall Street Journal article, Home Prices: Low, But Still No Bargain, home prices do indeed need to fall more.  I agree with this overall assessment.  Of course this will lead to more foreclosures as more homeowners experience negative equity situations.  If you do factor in financing then there is another problem: the looming commercial real estate crisis (more on that soon).