Another bad month for foreclosures doesn’t tell the whole story
anna.shoup
Posted: 10.16.2009 / 7:47 AM PDT
The latest episode in the national foreclosure story line sounds dire: Foreclosure filings in the United States rose by 5 percent in the third quarter of 2009. One in every 136 homes is now in some state of foreclosure nationally, according to the firm RealtyTrac.
The report does have a few bright spots. For example, the rate actually fell by 4 percent from August to September.
When we look at how Patchwork Nation’s representative communities did in this report, we see a mix of good and bad news. Some places saw improvement between August and September, while others did worse.
But if you look carefully at the numbers, you begin to realize that more is going on than simple month-to-month moves. The bigger picture is much more complex – and reveals the hole that the housing market is in.
Trouble behind the numbers
Take Arizona’s Maricopa County, home of El Mirage, a Latino-heavy “Immigration Nation” community. It looks like it had a good September overall, with foreclosures down 16 percent from August. But that’s down 16 percent from soaring heights.
In September in Maricopa, 10,797 housing units – one of every 142 – were in some state of foreclosure. Those numbers are up 12 percent from a year ago.
Many “Immigration Nation” communities, located heavily in the Southwest, had good growth in the first half of the decade and are seeing foreclosure problems now.
Even in places where the numbers don’t look as bad on the surface, the underlying market is weak.
For example, in Eagle County, Colo. – home of the diversifying “Boom Town” of Eagle – only 31 homes are in some state of foreclosure. That’s down 50 percent from August, when 64 homes were in foreclosure.
But the streets of Eagle are filled with “for sale” signs. More than 180 homes are on the market in a city of only about 6,000 people. That means property values have taken a big hit – dropping about 20 percent in the past year.
Stories like that abound around the country – particularly in the “Boom Towns,” which grew tremendously at the beginning of the decade and now bear the worst of the foreclosure crisis.
The big picture
To be sure, a few communities don’t tell the whole story of the economy. The larger point, however, is that nearly 23 months into the recession, the national monthly and quarterly data don’t offer the best insight, either. The problems in our 12 community types are complicated.
In the next few weeks, Patchwork Nation will look more closely at foreclosures by community type in our Economic Hardship Index.
• If you have something to ask about foreclosures, journalist Alyssa Katz – author of “Our Lot: How Real Estate Came to Own Us” – is taking questions on Paul Solman’s Business Desk blog on the “NewsHour” website.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:24 am PDT
[…] Patchwork Nation: American communities in a time of change. > Patchwork Nation Blog | The Christi… patchworknation.csmonitor.com/csmstaff/2009/1016/another-bad-month-for-foreclosures-doesn%E2%80%99t-tell-the-whole-story
October 17th, 2009 at 3:43 pm PDT
I’d be interested in statistics about how heavily involved ACORN was in these “immigration nations”. Their tactics - through legislation and legislators - of forcing banks to make loans to people who could not afford them in areas like these is well known. It would appear that in the long run these loans have helped cripple this economy.
This organization and it’s desires was heavily lobbied for by the head of the senate finance committee - Barney Frank. Frank is, even now, lobbying for more easily obtained loans similar to the ones that got us into this mess.
How will this madness stop if it continually gets ignored by the media? To allow further and further denigration of the financial system by special interest groups and Frank will only prolong the pain.
Are there any plans for “Patchwork Nation” to dig up information on this connection?
October 18th, 2009 at 4:10 pm PDT
Really, ACORN fears seem far out of proportion to just how small an organization it is on the ground. Bigger I suppose if one is worried that it also in your room, hiding under the bed. Be brave! Poor people are really not all that frighting.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:26 pm PDT
ACORN is FAR from a “small organization”. They have tentacles in all states and under various names facilitating changes in legislation, corrupting banking organizations through lobbying, etc.
ACORN’s ties with the SEIU (the largest union organization in the states) are well known. An organization that has BIG influence with Obama as is evident in the following video:
http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/12/seiu-seiu-seiu-obama-pledges-to-paint-the-nation-purple/
To say that ACORN is merely an outlet for “poor people” is ridiculous. Their political ties reach far into the whitehouse and congress (hardly what one would call, “poor people”).
http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/11/from-the-archives-acorn-corruption-runs-deep/ and
http://biggovernment.com/2009/10/12/from-the-archives-ii-acorn-corruption-runs-deep/
ACORN’s relationship in the patchwork nation’s data would be an interesting thing to evaluate.
October 22nd, 2009 at 9:22 pm PDT
There are good companies out there actually trying to help people. But unfortunately there are also bad ones that are trying to take advantage of the situations. I purchased 2 foreclosures and have been happy with my purchases.
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm PDT
I am more interested in the toies between sub-prime mortgages and the unregulated dirivatives finantial markets that caused the financial collapse of our country (See FRONTLINE). Still the Congress has not acted, two of Obama’s closest financial advisors were participants in ignoring the warning signs, and we are beginning to see falling mortgage rates which will (?) tempt persons into high risk mortgages again. Or will people have learned their lessons? With credit still incredibly tight, perhaps the banks have. But those over thee counter dirivatives are so tempting with artificially high rates of return born by housing sales…..