Rising unemployment is causing the foreclosure crisis, which started
with the relatively small subprime market, to expand to prime
borrowers. That’s a much larger pool of homeowners, a sign that
foreclosure rate — more than 6,600 home foreclosure filings per day,
according to the Center for Responsible Lending — isn’t likely to slow
down in the near future. “People are no longer defaulting simply
because of a change in the payment structure of their loan. They are
defaulting because of lost jobs or reduced hours or pay,” said a
Florida foreclosure task force report released in September. Michael
Barr, assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury
Department, said last month that more than six million families could
lose their homes over the next three years. [more]