Housing Credit Crunch Spreads To Home Owners Worldwide

Housing Credit Crunch Spreads
To Home Owners Worldwide

2002 saw interest rates hit rock bottom. 2008 saw those same rates rise to an unmanageable level for some homeowners. The housing credit crunch has hit cities across the United States. However, in the unlikely of places the housing market seems to be quite stable.

During the fall of 2002 the adjustable rate mortgage boasted rock bottom interest rates allowing those with less than perfect credit to obtain financing and purchase a home. Those who had the notion of buying real estate to fix up then sell at a profit began to see their dreams go up in smoke. All of the sudden the housing credit crunch had a stranglehold on the banking industry, therefore creating a greater supply of salable houses and a demand that was just not there.

Banks were beginning to tighten up their purse strings and decline credit to people with blemishes on their credit reports. In addition to credit being denied, homeowners who acquired an adjustable rate mortgage - ARM - noticed a significant increase in their monthly mortgage payment. Thus foreclosures incurred at an alarming rate.

Credit Repair Magic Will Fix Your Credit Faster Than Any Other Credit Repair System At Any Price... Guaranteed. Watch The Video And See For Yourself!

The combination of the housing market drying up and the interest rate increase culminated in the rise of foreclosures. It was no longer a sellers market. However, not all cities were hit by the housing credit crunch equally. Those cities that were hit the hardest fell by alarming rates while others either remained the same or made slight gains.

Nationally, foreclosure filings rose 23 percent in the first quarter over the fourth quarter and a whopping 112 percent over the prior year. Yet in cities throughout New York the percentage only rose to just above 14 percent. To simplify these national percentages; one in every 194 United States households received a foreclosure notice. That is a total of 649,917 properties. Where as, again, New York only saw an increase of 14,377 filings.

Leading the way in filings were Nevada, Arizona, Florida and California. New York, however, had filings that equaled to one in every 550 households. Cities in Nevada and California ranked within the top five while the Buffalo Niagara region of New York ranked 93 out of 100 filings. Even New York City ranked within the bottom 25 filings.

In conjunction with foreclosure filings the plunge in home values achieved an unprecedented mark by hitting double digits. The Las Vegas, Nv. real estate market fell by almost 23 percent and in Miami, FL. housing fell by almost 22 percent. The only city that posted a positive return was Charlotte, N.C., and that was only 2 percent.

The crunch had seem to hit most cities yet some cities boasted of median sales that have remained the same or dropped slightly. The steady, consistent path, seems to be the road most taken in the markets where big run-ups or severe drop offs have missed. For example, if the median selling price of real estate was $90,000, half sold for more than that amount and half sold for less.

Conversely, well-cared for homes still had a tendency to sell better then their fixer-uper counterparts even in slumping markets. Home owners who have well maintained, visually pleasing homes generally have not been radically touched by the housing credit crunch which hit most cities.