Foreclosures Hitting the Highest Mark

State foreclosures hit 5-year high. According to a recent report in States the foreclosures on Alaska single-family houses have hit their highest level in the least five years.

The Anchorage foreclosure rate began its steep ascent a few years ago, increasing 166 percent between 2005 and 2007, according to the report by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Nearly 102,000 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure in August, up nearly 6 percent from July and more than 80 percent higher than in August 2007, according to data released today by Foreclosures.com, a national leader in foreclosure information.

The state’s foreclosure rate will probably remain high this year, according to the report. The 435 foreclosures between January and June was the highest amount for the first half of any year since 2003.

Foreclosures increased at their fastest rate in nearly 30 years during the second quarter, according to a report by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Rising interest rates and falling home values prompted many to walk away from their loans. “People chose the lowest payment option to get into some of the very expensive housing markets, and now that prices are coming way down, they can’t sell and they can’t afford the higher payments,”

Year-to-date 1.45 million homeowners (19.6 of every 1,000 households) faced pre-foreclosure actions by lenders, almost double the number a year ago. A comprehensive analysis of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure proceedings nationwide is based on the number of formal notices filed against a property during the foreclosure process. That can include notice of default, notice of foreclosure auction, and/or notice of REO (lender-owned real estate that occurs after a foreclosed property fails to sell at auction and reverts back to the lender). All pre-foreclosure filings do not end up in foreclosure.

One of the user have just mentioned his thoughts on this circumstances, it’s really touching, if we all start taking care of small things today, we might won’t be among those who are suffering now…

I think the problem isn’t so much with the economy as much as it is with our spending habits. God forbid you would have to go without cable TV and God forbid you would have to not buy the new TV, new clothes, name brand items, etc…. I think the biggest thing we could do for our economy is trying and get Americans away from this “keep up with the joneses’, bigger is better” mentality. All it creates is debt debt-debt. And I think an unrealistic debt load, not so much a horrible economy is what’s to blame.