U.S. Home Vacancies Rise to Record on Foreclosures.
Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- A record 17.9 million U.S. homes stood empty in the third quarter as lenders took possession of a growing number of properties in foreclosure.
The figure is a 7.8 percent gain from a year ago, when 16.6 million properties were vacant, the U.S. Census Bureau said in a report today. About 2.07 million empty homes were for sale, compared with 1.94 million a year earlier, the report said.
New foreclosures have risen to a record, led by defaults in adjustable-rate loans to people with tainted or limited credit histories, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Home- price declines and tougher lending standards are making it difficult for owners who fall behind in mortgage payments to sell or refinance into better loans.
The U.S. homeownership rate fell for the fourth consecutive quarter to 68.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, from 68.9 percent a year ago, the report said.
U.S. home prices probably will fall 2 percent this year, Thomas Lund, an executive vice president at Washington-based Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage buyer, said last week in a panel discussion at a Mortgage Bankers Association convention in Boston.
Adjustable-rate mortgages to subprime borrowers account for 7.3 percent of all home loans and 44 percent of all new foreclosures, according to the Washington-based Mortgage Bankers group. The 15 percent of all mortgages that are prime adjustable-rate loans, granted to borrowers with good credit, represents 15 percent of new foreclosures.
Lenders began the process of seizing properties on 0.65 percent of U.S. mortgages in the second quarter, a record in a 35-year-old study, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a Sept. 6 report. The percentage of subprime borrowers making late payments increased to 14.82, a five-year high, from 13.77. |
