The existing home sales data which was released to the market earlier was a “half empty, half full” set of data. The market seemed to take it as just full and left the empty part behind.
Home resale rates rose 5.1% in February to an annual rate of 4.72 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. In the same breath, the organization said 45% of the activity was foreclosures or short sales. Because of the huge discount that most buyers get when they buy homes in foreclosure, the average price of a house fell 15.5% to $165,400.
Read more via The Housing Mirage: Misleading Numbers – TIME.
Knoxville — Anderson County business and government groups are joining forces to offer workers help in dealing with a tough economy. The Anderson County “Resource Exchange” Expo on April 17 will offer information on a variety of topics, including home foreclosures, insurance, job options, adult education, managing your time and money, refreshing your resume.
Sponsors are the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, United Way of Anderson County and Anderson County government.
via ‘Resource Exchange” to help job hunters : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel.
Loans dry up, foreclosures and delinquencies rise for houses of worship
Add houses of worship to the list of casualties of the mortgage crisis.
Foreclosures and delinquencies for congregations are rising, according to companies that specialize in church mortgages. With credit scarce, church construction sites have gone quiet, holding shells of sanctuaries that were meant to be completed months ago.
Congregants have less money to give, and pastors who stretched to buy property in the boom are struggling to hold onto their churches.
Read more via Boom-years borrowing hits churches – Faith- msnbc.com.
One in every 440 households with loans drew a filing last month, RealtyTrac said. Nearly 291,000 properties in the U.S. got a foreclosure filing in February, the third highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began tracking the data in January 2005.
Read more via U.S. foreclosure filings rise in February | Special Coverage | Reuters.
NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of houses — some with starting bids as low as $1,000 — were sold to the highest bidders Sunday in a rare auction of foreclosed properties in the New York metropolitan area, the company running the sale said.
“We don’t see as many properties going to foreclosure or being sold in New York City as we do in other parts of the country that have been hit a lot harder,” said Robert Friedman, chairman of Irvine, California-based Real Estate Disposition Corp. “It just seems like other areas were over-built more.”
Read more via Rare NYC foreclosure auction yields deals, some protest – USATODAY.com.
Tennessee had a 70.4 percent foreclosures increase from 2007 – 2008. See the link below for other States.
Foreclosure filings surpassed 3 million in 2008, setting a record that has Washington, D.C., policymakers calling for more aggressive efforts this year to aid troubled homeowners.
Foreclosures last year were up 81% from 2007 and 225% from 2006, according to a report out today from RealtyTrac. One in 54 homes received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, RealtyTrac reported.
Read more via 2008 foreclosure filings set record – USATODAY.com.
Middle Tennessee State University has done a great job analyzing the housing market in Tennessee for the 4th quarter, 2008. In the link below they give data on employment, permits, repeat sales, mortgage tax collections, transfer tax collections, foreclosures, and inventory.
The fourth quarter was difficult for the Tennessee economy. The increase in job losses will create a substantial headwind for the housing market. Although mortgage rates are extremely low, a decline in household confidence along with falling housing prices will likely keep many home buyers on the sidelines. The inventory of foreclosures will continue to rise, as indicated by the rising number of new foreclosures. Home sales continue to fall, putting downward pressure on prices. Since supply is falling faster than demand, the inventory of homes on the market is declining. The scarce good news is the increase in multi-family permits. Read more on Tennessee Housing Market
Actual $107,100,000
During Mayor Dennis Phillips time as mayor, the amount above in new bonds (debt) has been issued . The mayor has a little less than a year left in his current term and there are plans to add more debt such..The Aquatic Center ($15 million) has not been approved and is included in the total below.Actual and Planned $123,100,000
Mayor Dennis Phillips clearly will make history as the Kingsport mayor who spent the most of the taxpayer, children and grandchildren money.
Mayor Phillips may have been a former banker and is used to working with other peoples money. But he should stop to think how the citizens feel about the financial types. I will say that the finance folks have a very unfavorable rating because of what is transpiring with failed banks foreclosures, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Merrill Lynch, etc
Mayor Phillips also had help in acquiring this debt by the Vice Mayor and other Aldermen. Aldermen Marsh and Shull voted the most against new debt.
U.S. foreclosure activity in July increased 8 percent from the previous month and 55 percent from July 2007, according to the RealtyTrac Foreclosure Market Report released today.
View state-by-state details.
Tennessee foreclosures increased 4.75 percent from June, 2008 to July, 2008. The percent change from July, 2007 to July, 2008 is 29.47% and Tennessess is ranked 13 out of 50 for foreclosures. According to the report, there is one foreclosure per 587 households in Tennessee.