The Next Four Years Will See High Jump in Foreclosures

February 10th, 2009 | Tags: Foreclosure Notice

The past two years has been really bad for the housing industry but indications are there that the next four years will see high jump in foreclosure numbers according to the findings of Centre for Responsible Lending.

As per report, 2009 will see foreclosure numbers touch 2.4 million – it being more than the combined figures of 2007 and 2008. During the last two years nearly 2 million houses slipped into foreclosure.

Kathleen Day speaking on behalf of the organization said, “The root of the problem is bad loans. And if we don’t stop all these foreclosures, we won’t stop the decline in home values that’s now in free fall and hurting everyone.”

The forecast is that 8.1 million house owners will be losing their houses within the next four years. This includes 291,455 homes from Ohio.

According to RealtyTrac during the two years from 2006 to 2008, 1.5 million residential houses were swallowed by foreclosures – it being below the 2 million figures quoted y Centre for Responsible Learning.

Day admitted that there are differences in number but that does not cancel the fact that the foreclosure situation is growing from bad to worse.

The Centre for Responsible Lending used the foreclosure numbers provided by Mortgage Bankers Association and state-by-state estimates given by Credit Suisse. According to Credit Suisse the worst of the bad effects of the sub-prime loans reached its zenith in 2008. But there are other problems emanating from Alt-A (Alternative documentation loans) and these will pinch hardest from 2010 to 2012.

Bill Faith of Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio said that the Ohio figures (87,540) are on the conservative side. He feels that the increasing unemployment figures will tell upon the pace of foreclosures and could well tip it over 90,000.

The Ohio Supreme Court has not as yet given the final figures of 2008 foreclosures. Till the end of November the number was 78,671 postings marking a 2.5% spike over the total through the first eleven months of 2007. In 2003 Ohio saw 57,083 foreclosures. This increased at a steady pace to touch 83,230 in 2007 marking a jump of 45.8% - according to the data provided by the Supreme Court.

The only silver lining is that the residents of Ohio will not be as badly hit as those of other states like California, Florida and Nevada.