Foreclosure Storm Subsides in November; But What of December?

There were 258 first-time home foreclosure auctions scheduled in New York City in November, according to the latest foreclosure report

There were 258 first-time home foreclosure auctions scheduled in New York City in November, according to the latest foreclosure report released today by PropertyShark. That is a significant decline from the monthly foreclosure totals of recent months, when there were as many as 397.

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In fact, the November tally is identical to the number of foreclosures from last November, and represents the lowest number since December 2007, when there were 129.

So is this the end of New York’s unfortunate foreclosure boom?

Not quite, and it actually might be getting much, much worse.

At the end of November, a statewide three-month moratorium on foreclosures expired, leading some analysts to believe that December may have a disturbingly large number of foreclosures. “There could be a spike of foreclosures in December,” says PropertyShark CEO Bill Staniford.

In addition to lingering fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis, New York’s housing market may also be weakened by the financial crisis, which blew up in September, when the moratorium on foreclosures was already in place. Just how many laid-off employees will there be who can no longer afford their monthly mortgage payments?

December is likely to be a cold month indeed.

Queens, once again, led all boroughs in foreclosures with 172 in November, with a good bulk of those centered on the subprime hub of Jamaica. Staten Island is next with 47, followed by Brooklyn with 21, the Bronx with 13 and Manhattan with five.

Foreclosure Storm Subsides in November; But What of December?