Salient to Investors:
- RealtyTrac said properties with a default, auction or repossession notice are at the lowest since July 2006, a month before prices peaked and then collapsed. Daren Blomquist at RealtyTrac said foreclosures are more like a troublesome gnat than a mortal threat to the housing market.
- Lawrence Yun at the National Association of Realtors said existing-home prices will keep climbing as the job market improves and foreclosures make up a declining share of inventory.
- Jed Kolko of Trulia said bulk buyers and small investors have underpinned local markets after the crash and helped underwater borrowers in homes that may have otherwise stood empty. Kolko said housing is moving in the right direction with lots of favorable shifts from distressed to conventional sales.
- Paul Willen at FRB Boston said the 70 percent decrease in foreclosures shows how constrained lending has become, and lenders have become much more uptight – a big problem for the starter home buyer.
Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-17/foreclosures-fall-in-u-s-to-pre-bust-levels-mortgages.html
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