Foreclosures Climb in 75% of Metro Areas

During the first six months of the year, major metropolitan areas in states like in Florida, California, and Nevada saw drastic hikes in their foreclosure rates. According to CNN Money, unemployment has replaced bad mortgages as the leading cause of these foreclosures.

RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes, said that California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada continue to lead the nation in the rate of foreclosures. Las Vegas was the worst-hit city.

But now unemployment has replaced toxic mortgages as the leading cause of foreclosures throughout the country, according to spokesman Rick Sharga.

"Las Vegas has seamlessly shifted from having a high level of foreclosures due to bad loans," said Sharga, "to defaults caused by a high level of unemployment." Some 14.5% of its work force was idle in June, up 2.1 points from last June.

Las Vegas had one filing for every 15 households in the metro area. The second highest rate was in Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Fla., with one for every 20 households. Two California cities, Modesto and Merced, tied for third with one filing for every 22 households.

Continue reading at CNN Money.com…

Existing U.S. Home Sales Climb to 5.35 Million Rate

From Bloomberg.com:

Sales of previously owned homes in the U.S. rose in March for the first time in four months as buyers took advantage of a government tax credit and the weather improved.

Purchases climbed 6.8 percent to a 5.35 million annual rate, more than anticipated, from a 5.01 million pace in February, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. The median prices climbed 0.4 percent from March 2009.

The thawing out from February’s blizzards probably helped the market last month, while the Obama administration’s credit worth up to $8,000 may keep underpinning demand through June, when it’s next due to lapse. The outlook for the second half of the year depends on the speed and magnitude of the recovery in the job market, indicating the housing rebound may be slow to develop.

“You have some fundamental improvement in housing,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. Inc. in Pittsburgh. “Housing is coming back. It’s still got a long way to go.”

Existing home sales were forecast to rise to a 5.29 million annual rate, according to the median estimate of 76, economists in a Bloomberg News survey, from a previously reported 5.02 million rate in February. Projections ranged from 5.05 million to 5.5 million.