Foreclosures and NYC Home Price Fantasy

"A Wave Of Foreclosures Will Smash The New York City Home Price Fantasy" "Only 3,275 properties have been placed into default this year in Queens. As of October 10, Realtytrac listed 7,403 properties in default but not yet foreclosed by servicing banks. ( ) Does this mean that bank foreclosure activity has picked up? Not at all. Realtytrac lists a mere 1,282 properties in the banks' REO inventory.... [more]

"A Wave Of Foreclosures Will Smash The New York City Home Price Fantasy" "Only 3,275 properties have been placed into default this year in Queens. As of October 10, Realtytrac listed 7,403 properties in default but not yet foreclosed by servicing banks. ( ) Does this mean that bank foreclosure activity has picked up? Not at all. Realtytrac lists a mere 1,282 properties in the banks' REO inventory. Roughly 130 of these REO properties are described as "For Sale" by the website and all have been repossessed since the beginning of this year. Half of the Queens REO properties were repossessed before May 2009. At least 150 have been owned by the banks for more than two years. The majority of these REOs have outstanding mortgage debt in excess of $400,000. Clearly, the banks are still sitting on their inventory rather than placing them on the market." "Although serious delinquencies are still climbing in Queens, the sham housing market shows no sign of facing reality. The banks continue to hold foreclosed homes off the market, sellers ask outrageous prices for their properties, and very few homes are sold each month. Yet in spite of this charade, the huge pipeline of distressed properties in Queens continues to grow and is heading inexorably toward the final end of forced sales. Anyone thinking of buying a house or condo in Queens had better consider all these numbers before leaping. A collapse in Queens home prices can be delayed by the banks, but it cannot be prevented. Stay tuned." http://www.businessinsider.com/foreclosures-new-york-city-2010-10 Thank goodness this is about Queens and not Manhattan. [less]