From the South Florida website: Palm Beach County residents are lining up to turn the facades of their homes into billboard advertisements in order to subsidize their mortgages, thanks to an offer from California-based Adzookie. The Palm Beach Post reported that the firm, which covers mortgage payments for each month that the homes keep the ads up, launched its campaign last week and already has 44 homeowners signed up in Palm Beach County. [more]
Posts Tagged ‘underwater mortgages’
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The level of underwater mortgages in the greater New York City metro region remained relatively flat between the second and third quarters of the year, according to a report released today by data tracking firm CoreLogic. Of the 1.13 million mortgages tracked in the region, which CoreLogic defines as New York City, White Plains and Wayne, N.J., roughly 10.8 percent were underwater in the third quarter, down just .1 percent from the previous quarter. Those mortgages that are “near negative equity” (within 5 percent of being considered underwater) dropped .1 percent as well, quarter-over-quarter, to 2.9 percent from 3 percent. TRD [more]
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Underwater homeowners in the New York City region might not see positive equity till 2017, according to real estate research group First American CoreLogic, due in part to the area’s higher average disparity between underwater mortgage debt and home values. Although a smaller percentage of mortgage holders in the New York City area — which CoreLogic counts as the five boroughs and parts of Westchester and New Jersey — are underwater compared to the rest of the nation, the situation is more dire. Just 10 percent of the metro region’s mortgage holders are underwater, compared to 24 percent nationwide, but the average underwater mortgage in the New York City region is 39 percent above what the home is worth — a full five percentage points more the national average figure.
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Washington politicians and editorial writers throughout the country are bashing banks for foreclosing on hapless homeowners. And, indeed, foreclosures are on the rise. However, an even larger wave of foreclosures is coming to New York City, say experts who base their predictions on rising default rates, combined with the difficulty of refinancing underwater homes. The increasing numbers of distressed properties, they say, portend a substantial decline in property values throughout the city. “If you are looking at the statistics, it cannot possibly have hit bottom,” says Joshua Stein, a partner in the real estate practice group of Latham & Watkins, and chair of the education committee of the Mortgage Bankers Association of New York. [more]
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While the second quarter saw nearly a quarter of homeowners underwater, that number could rise up to 30 percent by the middle of 2010, according to a study from real estate analysis group Zillow.com. What’s most troubling is that home prices are still declining, even as the job market makes modest improvements. The second quarter saw median prices for single-family homes drop 12 percent from a year ago, marking the 10th consecutive quarter of decline. While other recession symptoms have eased, Zillow.com economist Stan Humphries said that the market still has further to fall. “The negative equity rate will rise and spin off more foreclosures,” Humphries said. “I see a substantial downside risk to prices and don’t think we’ll see a bottom until the middle of next year.”
