According to the Hanley Wood Market Intelligence blog and newsletter written by Jonathan Dienhart and Ken Lee :
The most acute challenges facing the housing market as it struggles to stabilize in 2011 are an expected flood in foreclosures and weak employment growth. Despite reaching a record-high level of activity in 2010, consensus estimates call for foreclosures to rise to new all-time highs again this year. This is in part because a number of the largest banks suspended foreclosure proceedings in October, causing a backlog in activity.
According to comprehensive transactional information available in Housing IntelligencePro , total foreclosures (non-seasonally adjusted) in the U.S. fell almost 29% from September to October. Compared to the same period last year, foreclosures were off 21%. Just before foreclosures were halted by the banks in October, the number of foreclosures in September hit an all-time high for any month since the beginning of our data series in 2005. This suggests that foreclosures would likely have remained on the rise if the freeze not taken place.
On an index scale with October of 2005 being equal to 100, that would put September 2010 foreclosure activity at a rating of 451 (or in other words, 451% of the number of foreclosures seen 5 years ago) and with October 2010 falling all the way back down to 323, the lowest level since April 2009. Expect to see this recent trend turn again around in the coming months. more...
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