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Nearly 200,000 of these foreclosures came in California -- the epicenter of the housing bust. Even as mortgage rates are at near-record lows, other factors are contributing to the housing crisis: unemployment remains high, jobless benefits haven't been renewed and the tax credit for buying homes has ended (indeed, that last incentive could prompt more foreclosures down the road if the economy continues to struggle)."U.S. bank repossessions increased 38 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier for a record total of 269,952, according to Irvine research firm RealtyTrac. That was also a jump of 5 percent from the previous quarter. If that pace continues through the year, the number of homes taken by banks is likely to top 1 million by the end of 2010, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac senior vice president."
While banks have re-modified loans to forestall even more foreclosures, many analysts believe the housing market is far from the road to recovery. Currently, about one in five U.S. mortgage holders owe more on their house than it's worth.
"Even a 3 to 4 percent increase in value won't help people who have seen their homes decline 20, or 30 or 50 percent," says Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University.
Read More at The Los Angeles Times.
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