National Foreclosure Rate Soar 53%
July 10th, 2008 by 
Joseph Smith
According to the most recent US housing market data, the number of homes that entered some stage of foreclosure has grown by over 50 percent in the last twelve months. For the month of June alone, there were actually 252,363 foreclosure filings.
Although the percentage of foreclosure filing went down by 3 percent compared to last month, the numbers are just too overwhelming to ignore. There were only eleven states, which did not experience any increase in foreclosure rate and the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis remain to be Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, California and Florida.
Troubled homeowners are actually dealing with a lot of factors that prevent them from finding a way to manage their mortgage problem. The high national foreclosure rate has already prompted the government to impose a tighter lending guideline, which in return resulted to sluggish home sales. In addition, the declining home prices, soaring fuel prices and weakening US economy have further added to the consumer’s burden.
There are actually very few options left for most of these troubled homeowners. Those who are considering selling their home are having difficulties finding buyers. Other homeowners who found themselves with more mortgage debt than equity simply choose to walk away and abandon their homes, even at the risk of having a foreclosure record on their credit history.
If the trend continues, the number of foreclosure filings might reach over 2.5 million by the end of the year. Experts and analysts observed that the industry’s and federal government’s efforts to curb the crisis in the housing market are being overwhelmed by the volume of properties in foreclosure.
For some government officials, the current problems in the mortgage industry could have been prevented if borrowers realized early on that they were taking out loans that they could not really afford. Such realization would have helped them avoid losing their home to foreclosure.
