foreclosures

Foreclosure-related properties, which made up roughly one in five home sales in the third quarter of last year, sold for an average 34 percent less than homes that were not ‘distressed sales,’ new data show.

About one million homeowners facing foreclosure could have their mortgage burden cut by about $20,000 each as part of a long-awaited deal.

Short sales are rising.

But they are a tarnished silver lining for people at risk of losing their houses.

The U.S. foreclosure rate has climbed to its highest level in seven months, suggesting that lenders are moving beyond a "robo-signing" scandal that had temporarily slowed bank takeovers, according to a private firm that tracks the activity.

Wages are stagnant or falling. Foreclosures are tearing through communities, and falling home prices are destroying family equity.

It's like a reverse New Deal.

Foreclosures made up roughly one-third of all home sales this spring. While that's a smaller share of sales from the previous quarter, it's six times the percentage of foreclosures in a healthy housing market.

Investors in bad Bank of America loans won an $8.5 billion settlement Wednesday. Homeowners on the other end of those loans have less to cheer about.

By John W Schoen.

Programs already plagued by delays and poor participation were not designed to fully address unemployment, now the primary cause of foreclosures.

Already plagued by delays, poor participation, programs not designed to fully address unemployment

Home prices in major areas have reached their lowest level since the housing bubble burst in 2006, driven down by foreclosures, a glut of unsold homes and the reluctance or inability of many to buy.