Yesterday the headline on the first page, business section, USA Today, read “Foreclosures skyrocket 65% in April.â€
Sixty-five percent. There were 65% more foreclosures in April of this year compared to the same month last year. Y’all correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought foreclosures were pretty bad last year—now they’re 65% higher.
Some think foreclosures will continue to rise into 2009, and possibly ‘til 2010.
If that doesn’t scare you, listen to this—Congress is working on this. Horrors.
I assume by now that everyone knows that the mortgage problem affects us all. When credit is tight, money is tight. When money is tight that hampers all of business.
Before I had time to become deeply depressed by the foreclosure info, comes today from The Wall Street Journal a WSJ News Alert. You won’t believe it—the headline announced “Housing Starts Post Unexpected Increase.†Holy cow.
The report goes on to say that home construction in April showed “surprising vigor, making the biggest increase in two years…†This after starts plunged by 13.8% in the previous month—that’s March of 2008. Unbelievable.
Furthermore, construction permits also rose. That seems to bode well as permits are acquired for future construction.
So, foreclosures up (bad news) and construction starts also up (good news). What’s a person to believe? I dunno, but maybe the people who invest in building have faith, but financing folks have no faith in those mortgages they sold to many poor risks in the past. Let's look on the bright side.
In the meantime, I think maybe I want one of those “subprime†mortgages. Congress is talking about letting all those people who can’t pay their mortgages refinance with “federally insured†mortgages.
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