Foreclosures Double During Third Quarter

The latest statistics released by a reliable online tracking firm show that foreclosures continue to march rapidly without showing any signs of slowing down. The third quarter is the worst hit.

Duval County recorded 2,288 foreclosure listings – a 38% jump from the 3rd quarter of the previous year, 2006. It is 12% hike from the second quarter this year. In Jacksonville counties the swing continues to be upward with the ratio being 1:21 in Baker, 1:68 in Clay, 1:47 in Nassau and 1:163 in St. Johns. This points to the steady rise in the first three quarters of this year. In the final quarter of 2006 the number made a high jump from 45,000 to 57,000 during the first quarter of the current year. This again soared to 86,465 in the third quarter. The figure is double that of what it was during the same quarter in 2006. Across the country foreclosures made a 99.5% jump as compared to the previous year. The prediction is that till the middle of 2008 there does not seem to be any chance of change.

The two worst affected months were August and September. All records since 2005 were broken. Counting the number of sub-prime mortgages about to reset in the middle of the next year and the gloomy state of the real estate market it is not incorrect to expect that there will be a veritable landslide of delinquency leading to foreclosures.

The sheer volume of foreclosure numbers is sending shock waves through the country and in international markets. The issue is no longer confined within the lender borrower zone. Entire neighbourhoods are beginning to look deserted – a paradise for vagrants and snakes crawling through overgrown gardens dotted with stagnant swimming pools. The police are not equipped to deal with troubles of this magnitude. The municipality is losing taxes. Housing rates are slumping in such dreary localities. The lenders have elephantine woes. With no mortgage dues rolling in coffers are empty. Buyers cannot get loans. Sellers cannot sell. Prices further fall. The stocks are adversely affected because the mortgages had been parceled and sold in packets to innumerable investors. But falling real estate is leading to fall in the stock market. Politicians are trying to play the blaming game and salvage the situation that is getting more and more dangerous and alarming with each passing day.

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