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| Economy |
| Home Vacancies Rise as U.S. Ownership Falls to Lowest in Decade |
| 2010-07-28 |
| About 18.9 million homes in the U.S. stood empty during the second quarter as surging foreclosures helped push ownership to the lowest level in a decade. The number of vacant properties, including foreclosures, residences for sale and vacation homes, rose from 18.6 million in the year-earlier quarter, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. The ownership rate, meaning households that own their own residence, was 66.9 percent, the lowest since 1999. Lenders are accelerating foreclosures as borrowers fall behind in mortgage payments after the worst housing crash since the Great Depression. A record 269,962 U.S. homes were seized in the second quarter, according to RealtyTrac Inc. Foreclosures probably will top 1 million this year, the Irvine, California- based data company said in a July 15 report. "There are a lot of people losing their homes and either moving in with family or renting places to live," said Patrick Newport, an economist with IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts. "Foreclosures are still going up." The share of homes empty and for sale, known as the vacancy rate, was 2.5 percent, matching the year-earlier period and down from 2.6 percent in the first quarter, the Census Bureau said. The homeownership rate fell from 67.1 percent in the first quarter, the third straight decline. The rate reached a record high of 69.2 percent in the second and fourth quarters of 2004. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 Versus DRUDGEREPORT > {InfoWars] 2017:THE YEAR AMERICA DISSOLVED. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-07-28 23:05 |
| #13 So much for the leftist utopia. No money down, no payments, no job, low interest for awhile, and no income but you get a house anyway. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-07-28 17:45 |
| #12 Yep. I would advise not to do it via inflation and pretend to pay it back, as this has a massive negative effect on the rest of the economy. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-07-28 17:10 |
| #11 It ALL stems from too much credit. And the bad debts so contracted must be defaulted on (since there is no way they can be paid back), and someone must eat those bad debts. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-07-28 16:15 |
| #10 NoMoreBS Nah, that just made a problem worse. The problem was the regulators lowering reserves to zero has the effect of creating vast amounts of credit and THIS volume of credit lowered yields and thus increased risks. It ALL stems from too much credit. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-07-28 16:06 |
| #9 Count me among those underwater, hoping to retire in five years... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2010-07-28 15:57 |
| #8 The Community Redevelopment Act, repeal of Glass Stegal, Fannie and Freddie being mandated to make high risk loans, and the policies behind it spearheaded by Frank and Dodd add up to the single greatest theft in the history of mankind. And now these progressive jerks are trying to take credeit for regulating the financail markets their policies have caused, and spin it back to class warfare..... Not a single public figure behind this is going to jail or even being hurt financially..... Add this to a federal goverment that has evolved into an increasingly oppressive presence in every aspect of our daily lives, and planning to take more and more of our wealth to give to their clients.... Gee, does this book end well? Or peacefully? |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2010-07-28 15:27 |
| #7 Nothing beats Ivy League education except grade school arithmetic, use of a calculator, honest statistics, and an understanding of basic economics. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-07-28 13:37 |
| #6 Lots of people otherwise well-to-do are underwater on their current mortgages, in a situation where they may decide that keeping up with mortgage payments is not worth the expense. Add them to the current number of foreclosures, and home ownership should plunge. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-07-28 13:36 |
| #5 I dunno, the University of Idaho is looking pretty good right now. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-07-28 10:39 |
| #4 Nothing beats Ivy League education (except maybe Oxford/Cambridge/Sorbonne). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-07-28 06:43 |
| #3 We should be thinking about what the home ownership rate was in 1928. More like historical reality. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2010-07-28 06:07 |
| #2 The Obama administration has created or saved nearly 19 million rentals. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-28 00:34 |
| #1 Mortgage and Price too high WILL do that. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-07-28 00:23 |