Bank Foreclosures Information

The high number of homes in bank foreclosure listings in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been largely blamed for the decline in values of properties in the area. However, one local market was able to buck the trend and posted a higher home price average for 2010.

As New Orleans foreclosures rise, prices of homes declined, with values of properties starting their descent in 2008. For majority of the metro area's local markets, this price decline continued until last year, but not for Orleans Parish. The area posted a 9% gain in housing prices in 2010, while prices for the whole New Orleans metro area declined by 4% over the same period.

According to housing market analysts, despite having its share of Louisiana foreclosures, the parish was able to benefit from more people moving into the area to live in homes closer to their jobs and from the overall optimism that Orleans Parish is looking at a brighter future than other cities in the region. In addition, the parish has good housing units on offer and most consider its schools quality institutions.

Housing market observers stated that other areas continue to suffer from huge supplies of homes in bank foreclosure listings and from the effects of the oil spill disaster. Some markets are still feeling the aftershock of Hurricane Katrina a few years after the disaster occurred. For the whole metro area, St. Bernard reportedly had the worst housing market in terms of prices.

Home prices in St. Bernard dropped by 13% last year, with most housing experts attributing the value decline to the fact that the place built the most number of residential properties after the hurricane, which eventually ended empty or under listing of REO properties since the market was unable to provide enough demand. In Jefferson, prices dropped by 8% in 2010, while St. Tammany Parish saw prices falling by 5% over the same period.

Despite the continuous drop in prices, local realtors believe that the market is getting better as sales of non-foreclosed and homes in bank foreclosure listings rose last year in the region. Total housing units sold in 2010 was 640 more than the total sold in 2009, with the biggest share accounted for by St. Tammany Parish.

Related Posts:

• Fewer Bank Foreclosed Homes for Sale Gave Hope to Price Observers
• Fair Number of Homes on Bank Foreclosure Listings in Syracuse
• Houston Foreclosure Homes for Sale Rose in June
• Foreclosure Listings Auctions, Not a Bargain Anymore
• Growing Trend: Multiple Offers for Foreclosures for Sale

Although foreclosed properties and homes under bank owned property listing remained high last year, some areas of California were able to post housing price increases. However, majority of local realtors expect the housing market of the state to continue to struggle this year.

San Diego bank owned homes and distressed properties from other key areas of the state continued to pull the prices of dwellings down last year. Based on statewide housing reports, however, the areas of Burbank and Glendale were able to avoid the worst of the crisis, with both markets performing relatively well in terms of prices. In Glendale, the average selling price of houses jumped to $560,000 during the last month of 2010 compared with the December 2009 average sales price of $538,000.

In Burbank, average selling prices dropped to $484,000 in December 2010 from December 2009's price of $516,000. Despite the drop, the difference year-over-year in Burbank was considered better than in other state markets. Other cities and counties in the state recorded huge declines, particularly those with massive supplies of bank owned properties in California.

Housing market analysts stated that it was not just the presence of properties under foreclosed and bank owned property listing that pulled the prices down in most California markets. They stated that unemployment also played a major role, particularly now that majority of foreclosure victims are homeowners who have stable traditional loans, but who found themselves unable to pay their mortgages due to loss of job.

Meanwhile, both Glendale and Burbank, along with La Canada Flintridge, saw higher number of short sale transactions last year. Local realtors stated that more lenders have become open to foreclosure prevention in 2010. The fact that federal authorities are putting pressure on lenders to favor short sales was also part of the reason for the increase in short sale agreements, realtors further added.

The percentage of total housing sales in Glendale accounted for by foreclosures rose to 30% last year from 24% in 2009. In Burbank, figures rose to 27% in 2010 from 24% in 2009. Meanwhile, properties in bank owned property listing accounted for 20% of home sales in Glendale last year, down from the 2009 figure of 23.5%.

Related Posts:

• Banks Slow to Approve Short Sales As Bank Owned Homes Continue to Rise
• Growing Trend: Multiple Offers for Foreclosures for Sale
• More Buyers of Bank Owned Homes Foreclosures Use Cash
• Realtors Favor Short Sales to Lower Bank REO Properties for Sale Totals
• Prices Improve Despite Supplies of Homes in Bank Foreclosure Listings

The latest report on bank foreclosure homes filings in California revealed a 17.5 percent decline during the last quarter of 2010 as compared to 2009.  Actual loss to lender repossession dropped by 30.6 percent.

Such data could only mean two things. First, there were fewer borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure. Second, lenders are easing off when it comes to foreclosing, especially since regulators are scrutinizing their every move following allegations of procedural mistakes and complaints lenders are not really working with borrowers to avoid foreclosure.

For the last quarter of 2010, there were 69, 799 default notices filed at California county offices. Based on MDA DataQuick information system, the figure is 17.5 percent less from 4Q of 2009 and 16.2 percent fewer from the third quarter of 2010.

DataQuick is not sure of the slowly recovering economy is a huge factor for the decline of bank foreclosure homes filings or it is simply because there are fewer households who are suffering from financial distress. Of course, more California bank foreclosures, including Los Angeles foreclosures for sale, will enter the market if not for loan modification and short sale options.

With the growing concern for the large number of homes ending up as bank owned residential properties, mortgage assistance events and fairs have increasingly become popular. In a similar event held at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, it was observed that more lender are approving loan modification proposals, particularly those involving the risky mortgage, such as adjustable rate mortgages or ARMs.

These risky loans were actually approved without verification of the borrowers’ true financial conditions. Most of them could not really afford the loan, but agreed to take them out, especially after being enticed by offerings of interest-only payment, no down payment scheme and the popular ARM. Most of these subprime loans defaulted almost immediately, resulting to millions of bank foreclosure homes in the market and the eventual crash of the mortgage industry.

Related Posts:

• Freddie Mac Cuts Down Government Foreclosures
• Defaults and Foreclosed Houses for Sale Growing in Ohio
• Borrowers with Homes in Bank Foreclosure List Enjoy Relief
• Lenders Exempted from Government Foreclosure Prevention Plan
• Option ARM May Drive Up Repossessed House Numbers

Several real estate experts and analysts have looked into Phoenix housing market, 5 years after the area started experiencing the fallout from the mortgage crisis which lead to the ballooning of bank owned property listings. According to these experts, it is about time to acknowledge that the future holds a new reality and it should be accepted as early now that the term “recovery” will never be appropriate.

There are actually three notable characteristics of the present day market which could explain why these experts are painting such a grim picture of the future.

For starters, there are more individuals and families renting than owning homes. This could be explained by the surge in the volume of Phoenix bank owned homes over the past couple of years. Distressed homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure usually end up renting a home, especially after their credit score took a beating.

Another factor would be the hundreds of underwater homeowners, meaning they owe more in mortgage than the current market value of their home. If these homeowners eventually decided to walk away or stop paying their mortgage, the home will more likely end one of the Phoenix bank owned homes.

Lastly, residential developments which lost money due to the risks they took in building so many homes during the housing boom will no longer be able to recover. Again, this will lead to the growing number of bank owned property listings.

With regard to home prices and home sales activity, the first sign of a problem was observed during the mid-2006 when the collapse of the Arizona market started gaining momentum. Foreclosed properties in bank owned property listings suddenly became the norm rather than the exception. In no time at all, Arizona bank owned properties for sale became the trend in the market.

To make matters worse, there were also plenty of commercial foreclosure homes for sale, mainly due to the fact that even business owners took out adjustable-rate mortgages and where unable to pay the mortgage dues when the loan reset. Many of the homes listed in bank owned property listings actually have a similar story.

Related Posts:

• New Short Sale Program Expected To Help Distressed Homeowners Prevent Foreclosure
• Delaware Beach Houses on Bank Foreclosure Listings
• Foreclosure Listings Auctions, Not a Bargain Anymore
• Prices Improve Despite Supplies of Homes in Bank Foreclosure Listings
• Increase in Cash Offers for REO Property Listings in Florida