Foreclosures have fallen to their lowest level since the near-apocalyptic collapse of the housing market two years ago, both nationwide and in New York. The worst must surely be over right?
Hardly.
The slowdown is neither the result of a stabilizing housing market — wouldn’t that be nice! — nor holiday cheer. No, the broad concensus is that foreclosures continue to fall because of the post-robo-signer moratoriums.
Horror stories from the foreclosure crisis. >>
Across the country, foreclosures fell 21 percent in November, the largest month-to-month decline ever recorded by RealtyTrac, and a 14 percent fall from this time last year.
In New York, there were 146 foreclosure auctions in November, a decline of 39 percent for the month and 24 percent for the year. The two hardest hit neighborhoods are Jamaica, Queens, and the South Shore of Staten Island.
As the graph at right from Property Shark shows, the foreclosure rate in the city has been relatively stable for the past year. This means when the foreclosurebots get back to work, there will likely be spike in the city’s numbers, though it seems unlikely that would last for very long. Hopefully.
As for the rest of the country, it is not so clear. Some are prediciting another near-apocolypse in 2011.
Happy New Year, everybody!
