Experts had predicted that the year 2008 will bring the much needed relief to homeowners from foreclosures but the situation seems as grim as ever. Homeowners are still reeling from the 150% rise in Arizona bank foreclosures. With 70,000 filings and many more Arizona foreclosure homes, the state is now ranked 8th nationwide. Homeowners were left dry and with nothing to fend after more than 405,000 homes were foreclosed across the country last year. Nationwide there was a steep rise of 75% in default notices and bank repossessions and the filings in the last quarter took a leap of 97%.
In the first quarter of 2008, there was an increase in the number of Phoenix bank foreclosures that contributed to the rates in the state. By January 2008, the total number of Phoenix foreclosure homes added to the 9,059 properties in the state of Arizona taking the percentage change from January to 117.50%. Several counties added to the overall rate of foreclosure making it almost unbearable. Out of the 10,000+ bank foreclosures recorded in Phoenix, almost 7000 are from Maricopa County. The month of June was bad for the homeowners in the county as 107 of them received notices for foreclosure auctions.
The current situation of high number of foreclosure homes is because of the higher interest rates. The state of Arizona sees it as a continuing challenge and feels that the current mortgage rates need to be adjusted so that it becomes easier for homeowners to make their payments. The problem is that 37% of the properties in foreclosure have not found any investors or first time homebuyers and this can lead to a real estate slowdown, which will affect the economy in the long run.
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Written by Alex Rolim.
