Record Foreclosures

More bad news coming in regarding foreclosure levels. This Reuters report that Home foreclosures reach record high is more bad news on top of previously bad news on the unemployment rate. Lets take a look -

Home foreclosures and the rate of homes entering foreclosure rose to record highs in the second quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Friday.

"The national foreclosure numbers continue to be driven by the hardest-hit states continuing to get much worse," Jay Brinkmann, the association's chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics, said in a news release.

The increases in foreclosures in California and Florida overwhelmed improvements in states such as Texas, Massachusetts and Maryland, he said.

"It is unsurprising that mortgage delinquencies picked up further in the second quarter," John Ryding, chief economist, and Conrad DeQuadros, senior economist, at RDQ Economics in New York, said in commentary.

...
The U.S. mortgage delinquency rate of 6.41 percent was the highest since at least 1979, which was when the trade group began its current method of measuring failing home loans.

That is going to hurt. But note the good news of improvements in Maryland, Mass. and Texas. Hopefully this is the peak and things start declining. Hopefully, but with the Option ARM issues things will probably still get worse before they get better.