June 5, 2008

More than a million homes in foreclosure

Posted: 06:01 PM ET

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:



More than a million homes in the U-S are now in foreclosure, a staggering figure that shows how hard the economy is hitting millions of Americans.

A report by the Mortgage Bankers Association shows the rate of both home foreclosures and late payments set records in the first quarter of this year, the highest in nearly 30 years. And, it’s only expected to get worse. The group says the slump in housing prices was the biggest factor for more foreclosures and late payments. And, there will likely be more in the months to come since home prices are expected to keep dropping.

Some states are especially hard hit: California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona accounted for 89% of the increase in new home foreclosures. These are states where the prices dropped sharply and there was too much supply due to a lot of construction.

Many homes in Michigan and Ohio have also been foreclosed. In those states, it’s because of rising job losses, especially in the automotive sector.

Around the country, the housing market meltdown and ensuing credit crisis have helped push the economy to the brink of a recession – if we aren’t there already. Consumers and businesses are spending less, and employers have cut more than a quarter-million jobs in the first four months of this year. Investor Warren Buffet says the recession has already started and will be longer and deeper than anyone expects.

Here’s my question to you: What does it mean when more than a million homes are now in foreclosure?

Interested to know which ones made it on air?

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/ ... reclosure/