None.
Now check this out from CNBC:
"Foreclosure activity in April fell nationally to the lowest level since the summer of 2007, but government intervention and the recent $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement are now changing the face of the crisis."Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, fell 5 percent in April from March, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, and are down 14 percent from April of 2011. One in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month." ("Foreclosure activity in April fell nationally to the lowest level since the summer of 2007," CNBC)
Jeez, they're running out of houses. I guess I'd better go out and get me one right now!
What a bunch of baloney. Housing is never going to bounce back in our lifetime. Forget-about-it. Aside from the 5 to 11 million distressed units in the foreclosure pipeline, there are any number of things that will continue to weigh heavily on the market for the years to come. Think about all the baby boomers who want to get rid of the four-bedroom family home in West Brisbane and downsize to a two-bedroom bungalow outside Tuscon. Where are they going to find a buyer? The newbie college grads are already up to their eyeballs in student loans, and will either have to share a dumpy rental with roommate, Fred, or move back into the guest room at Mom and Pop's. Either way, only a small percentage of them will ever own their own home. Homeonwership is going the way of the Dodo.
Now get a load of this article in the Wall Street Journal:
"... Although banks initiated fewer foreclosures in the first quarter than at any time since 2007, the share of loans in the process remains high...."The numbers mask big variations by state. The national foreclosure rate remains elevated largely because of states that require banks to process foreclosures through the courts. In these so-called judicial states, banks have moved to take back homes very slowly since judges uncovered record-keeping abuses in foreclosure processing 18 months ago. Banks have encountered fewer hurdles in nonjudicial states....("Foreclosures Show No Sign of Decline," WSJ)
Don't get hung up in the "judicial-non judicial" BS. It's all just smoke and mirrors. What difference does it make?
Look; we already know that 12,000 people are underwater RIGHT NOW. Nearly 25 percent of all homeowners owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth. A lot of these people are just going to throw in the towel and vamoose. And that's going to add more and more homes to the backlog. And, even if the shadow supply did not increase, the humongous overhang that already exists is enough to drive prices down another 15 percent or so. In fact, the WSJ reluctantly admits this further on in the same article. Here's the clip:
"While there are signs that home prices are beginning to rise in more markets, including hard-hit Phoenix and Miami, those communities with a large 'shadow' inventory of potential foreclosures could face renewed price pressure once banks take back and list for sale more of those properties."
Huh? So after all that rigmarole about "judicial-non judicial" the WSJ finally tells it like-it-is...that once the banks "list ..more of the properties" that they're holding onto, then prices are going down, down, DOWN.
So, the question is: When are the banks going to put more of their distressed inventory on the market?
Answer: No one knows for sure. But when the government and the central bank are on your side, then there's no hurry. You can take your own sweet-time and drag the Depression out for ever.
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