The worsening housing crisis is taking a heavy toll across the country with the highest foreclosure rates since the Great Depression according to RealtyTrak.
Home foreclosures for June 2008 were 53 percent higher than recorded in June 2007. Home repossessions increased by 171 percent during the same period. More than 252,000 properties—roughly one in 500—entered some stage of the foreclosure process.
The crisis has been particularly severe for workers who were lured by loans with adjustable-rate mortgages. As foreclosures increase and housing prices plunge, many homeowners are left paying mortgages on homes worth far less than their original price.
Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, predicts, “The foreclosure problem is getting worse and will stay with us well into the next decade.”
