According to an article on CNN Money over 851,000 homes have been foreclosed on by lenders since August 2007. Another 265,968 borrowers received foreclosure filings in September and although that’s a 12% drop from the record high in August, it is a 21% increase in foreclosure filings since September 2007.
That’s bad news for the U.S. housing market which is being flooded with bank-owned property which is in turn pushing down home values to record lows. This rapid devaluation of the housing market is contributing to the rising foreclosure rate.
If this trend continues, by the end of 2008 nearly 25% of all homes for sale in the U.S. will be owed by the bank. It’s a nasty formula that we’re facing. Lower home values equals more foreclosures as more and more borrowers rapidly lose equity in their homes.