Foreclosure Houses Still Haunt Communities Nationwide

The Economic Hardship Index showed that an increasing foreclosure houses is still the common concern of all community types and their residents.

Based on the index, not one of the 12 community types expects an improvement in the number of foreclosure homes in their areas. This problem continues to be an economic and emotional burden to communities and residents.

In the first six months of this year, 1,905,723 filings of foreclosures were made on 1,528,364 households across the country, representing a 9 percent rise from the preceding six months. Meanwhile, 1 out of 84 or 1.19 percent of housing units in the country received a foreclosure filing from January to June.

These figures do not include families struggling to remain in their houses, a situation causing additional stress to the national and local economies.

According to industry analysts, the emotional impact of repossession can affect every sector of the economy.

They said that every time people see foreclosure houses with for sale signs or properties being foreclosed on, they are psychologically affected and so is the economy in the area.

They explained that the tendency of people living in areas with a great number of foreclosed properties is to stop spending, which affects the local businesses. Also, the increasing unemployment rate is being linked to the growing foreclosure problem. They added that as people start to lose their sources of income, they also start missing mortgage payments which subsequently led to foreclosures.

In St. Louis, Missouri, a great number of people have lost their jobs and are having difficulty saving their properties from foreclosure due to loss of income and limited means to avoid foreclosure.

Housing counselors at Beyond Housing, an affordable housing provider, noted a significant increase in the number of unemployed people who are asking for assistance. Chris Krehmeyer of Beyond Housing said that many people with good credit history and loans are starting to lose their properties to foreclosure.

But not all housing markets in the country are on a downhill. Some, including Hampton Roads in Virginia, are showing signs of recovery in terms of home sales. According to industry experts, the low interest rates and $8,000 federal tax credit have been a big help to boost home sales. However, they are one in saying that trouble is still ahead as the number of foreclosure houses across the country remained unabated.

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