http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704700404575391582687553008.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_realestate
Check out the graph on the bottom of the page, there in lies the truth of America's troubles.
It ain't getting any better
Sales of new homes are near 47-year lows, yet the supply of new and existing homes is expected to grow in the months ahead as construction ramps up and a wave of foreclosed homes hits the market.
In June, new-home sales were running at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000 units, the Commerce Department said Monday. While that was up 23.6% from the all-time low of 267,000 in May, the June figures were the second lowest on record.
LPS Applied Analytics, a firm that tracks mortgage data, said Monday that there were 4.56 million loans in default or in some stage of foreclosure in June, down slightly from May. But the number of new foreclosures initiated on properties backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased sharply, rising 21% in June from May.
The rise in foreclosures on Fannie and Freddie properties reflects the failure of many troubled borrowers to receive permanent loan modifications plans, analysts said. Having exhausted all options to rescue their homes, many troubled borrowers may now be giving up.
."Looking at the numbers you're seeing about this pickup in foreclosure starts, it's hard to see how it's not going to translate into elevated levels of [properties taken over by banks] down the road," said Herb Blecher, an analyst at LPS.
