Cities in California, Florida, and Nevada are still home to the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, according to a new report released Wednesday by RealtyTrac. But rising unemployment and a new round of mortgage resets have initiated a gradual shift in the nation's foreclosure epicenters, away from the hot spots of the last two years, toward cities that, until now, could claim relatively small foreclosure numbers.
A House panel is issuing subpoenas to get to the bottom of Countrywide's lending practices and VIP mortgage program. But new allegations by nearly 10,000 borrowers suggest the firm's records are full of holes and fake filings, part of a pattern of fraud by company officers.
Home prices overall have improved now for seven straight months, according to one leading industry barometer - a definitive vote of confidence for the nation's housing recovery. The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday once again showed moderation in the annual declines of residential prices. August readings for S&P's 10-city and 20-city composites were down by 10.6 percent and 11.3 percent, respectively, compared to the same month last year, and both posted month-to-month gains.
There have been plenty of parallels drawn between the current downturn and the 1930s, but here's another jarring one: U.S. banks are now charging off loan debts faster than they did in the early years of the Great Depression, according to Moody's Investors Service. Banks have charged off $116 billion in loans so far this year, nearly three percent of all outstanding loans. Similar charge-offs accounted for only about 2.3 percent of outstanding loans in 1932, the Great Depression's third year.
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