California Foreclosures Remain High As Unemployment Rates Rise

California foreclosures remain some of the highest in the whole U.S. This is despite the fact that majority of metropolitan areas in the state are recording declining foreclosure totals compared with 2009 records. Recent housing market industry numbers showed that nine out of the top ten metros with the highest rates of foreclosures recorded declining totals for the first half of 2010 compared with the same period of 2009.

However, with fewer homebuyers making residential purchases and more of this small number opting to buy foreclosed homes instead of new dwellings, the housing market is expected to continue to suffer for the next few months. The situation, analysts stated, is further aggravated by the record number of people losing their jobs during the year.

The January-June 2010 period showed that majority of the properties under home auctions for sale and properties under some stage of foreclosures in the whole country are mostly concentrated in two states, California and Florida. Out of the 20 areas ranked highest in terms of foreclosure rates for the first half of 2010, 17 are in California or Florida.

These Florida and California foreclosures include properties repossessed by banks, households receiving their first notice of default and notices of auction sales. In total, the country had 1.6 million properties under foreclosure for the period January-June 2010. This represents an 8% increase compared with the first six months of 2009.

The whole country is on track to reach over three million foreclosure filings for the year, with about one million accounted for by homes under repossessed properties listings. In the previous two years, high foreclosure rates were largely due to bad loans and subprime mortgages; this year, analysts have stated that majority of foreclosures are due to homeowners losing their jobs.

The situation demonstrates how badly the unemployment rate has impacted the housing market in the past half-year, analysts have stated. They further added that the market will not recover unless employment conditions all around the country improve.

Market analysts also stated that the federal government's foreclosure mitigation programs have only delayed foreclosures and have not made any dent on the housing market problem. They asserted that only an improved job market will help lower the number of California foreclosures and help ease the housing market crisis all around the country.

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