Foreclosures are no longer a primarily subprime problem. While in 2006 about 55 percent of foreclosures came on subprime loans, in 2009 subprimes represent just 35 percent of foreclosures, another 35 percent are in the middle tier and 30 percent are in the top tier. The primary contributing factor is higher delinquency rates in Prime, Alt-A and Option ARM mortgage products.
According to the Amherst Security Group, this problem won’t go away any time soon, because:
• Loans are transitioning into delinquency/foreclosure at a rapid pace, but moving out at a slow pace;
• Cure rates are low. In other words, fewer people are paying their past-due amounts and getting back on track.
• Loans are taking longer to liquidate. In other words, the length of time between the start of the foreclosure process and the point when the lender gets control of the property is growing.
“Housing in California has become a tale of two markets,” Association President James Liptak said in a written statement. “The low end continues to attract first-time buyers and investors, with a resulting shortage in the number of homes for sale. Sellers at the high end, however, continue to be challenged by the ability of home buyers to secure financing as well as their
concerns about where prices are headed.”
There is also another reason why high-end homes are not selling. Move-up buyers have seen their home values fall and are unable to sell their homes at the price level needed to help finance the purchase of a more expensive home, said Mark Hanson, head of Menlo Park-based Field Check Group, an independent real estate research firm.
“Our move-up buyer is long gone in California. In the mid- to high-end market … people can’t sell their property,” he said.
“In the low-end market, sales are going to drop,”
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Heard as much on the radio today while driving into work. High end jobs being lost along with those at the mid and low end.
