The number of Americans suffering from home foreclosures hit an all-time high in August, according to a report released by RealtyTrac.
About 95,364 properties were repossessed by banks in August, up 25 percent over the same period last year and 2 percent from last May’s record. The number of foreclosure fillings of all types, including bank repossessions, default notices and scheduled auctions, rose 4 percent to 338,836 from July.
However, the number of default notices issued by lenders to homeowners to initiate foreclosure process declined in August to 96,469 homes, down 1 percent from July and 30 percent from August 2009. It was significantly lower compared to April 2009 peak where 142,064 properties received default notices.
The number of default notices and repossessed homes showed that banks were trying to mitigate the new properties’ flow into the market. According to Bloomberg, the excess of housing inventory means home prices could drop for at least three years.
According to data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS), about 4,947,000 properties, or about 9.22 percent of the entire mortgage-financed homes, are yet to be foreclosed. LPS noted that the number of foreclosed homes in the market was 2,038,000.
It’s a bleak reality but hope has emerged. According to a survey conducted by Fannie Mae, majority of the 3,399 people questioned think that the market has bottomed out, and 31 percent of those questioned said prices would rise for the next three years, while 47 percent said it would remain flat.