On the Rise: Florida Mortgage Defaults in April
As lenders and lawmakers try to fix the bad credit Florida mortgage mess, the number of residents falling into foreclosure continues to rise.
Mortgages in foreclosure rose 62 percent in April, while the number of Americans falling behind on home loans will climb this year as home prices fall and lending standards are tightened, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
There were 147,708 notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions last month, led by California, Ohio and the Florida housing markets the Irvine, California-based seller of foreclosure data said today. The median U.S. home price fell 1.8 percent in the fourth quarter, according to a separate report by the National Association of Realtors.
Foreclosures are being “fueled by a combustible mix of risky [Florida mortgage loans] taken out in the last few years - many in the subprime market - and slowing home price appreciation,” said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a statement.
National and Florida mortgage lenders are raising credit standards after the number of loans entering foreclosure rose to an all-time high in the fourth quarter.
The 2007 median price for an existing home likely will decline 1 percent to $219,800, the National Association of Realtors said last month, the first drop since the real estate group began keeping records in 1968 and probably the first decline since the Great Depression.
Falling prices make it more difficult for owners to avoid foreclosure by selling.
More than 50 subprime lenders have folded, filed for bankruptcy protection or sought a buyer since January 2006.
April foreclosures were down about 1 percent from the more than 149,000 filings in March, the most since RealtyTrac started compiling such information in January 2005.
“Whether the decrease in April is the beginning of a similar trend this year remains to be seen, but we expect foreclosure activity to at least stay above last year’s levels for the remainder of 2007,” Saccacio said.
California had the largest number of foreclosure filings last month, with 30,505, followed by Florida at 14,318 and Ohio with 11,431, RealtyTrac said. All three states had advanced from a year earlier, with Ohio the only one to show an increase from the previous month.
