Foreclosures are up 53% since last June!! Houses are getting cheaper!!! There are some good things about these stats and some really bad news regarding the stats.
I’ll provide the negative aspect first. America is not close to seeing an uptick in home values yet, especially on a national level. If you live in a home today, you are going to keep losing money on your equity (of course this is neighborhood specific). The market bottom will not take place until the majority of these foreclosures are passed thru the market to consumers.
In fact in this article they project that the number of 2.5 million homes nation wide, up from 1.5 million in 2007. These numbers point out that this mess is far from over!
Of course to some people this is great news!! Houses are getting cheaper and will continue to get cheaper. If you are looking at buying a home to live in or for a long term investment, this could be a wonderful time in the market. I have heard of homes dipping more then 30% in some markets and with this news, it looks like we might see a bigger decline.
The point is that not all people should be worried about these horrifying stats. In the short-term they hurt the current homeowners, but if you are looking in to buying home or investment properties, then it’s a great time to start shopping.
I my humble opinion I think that in the MN area, the end of this year and the start of 2009 will start to show the bottom of the housing market. We have not seen the huge declines in home values, like FL or CA; therefore it should not take as long for the local housing market to rebound compared to the national level.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080710/foreclosure_rates.html