The Santa Rosa Press Democrat noted this weekend that many Alt-a mortgages, a type of variable-rate mortgage sold to people typically better off than subprime borrowers, are now heading into foreclosure in that area. The paper says 18% of Sonoma County mortgages are Alt-a's...
...As Calculated Risk notes in its analysis of the trend, when these borrowers are foreclosed, it may be harder to find buyers for their mid-range houses than for the bottom-end properties that now dominate the foreclosure market. That's because there are fewer "trade-up" buyers who sell a lower-priced home then buy a more expensive one. Sellers of low-end homes today aren't people moving up, but banks clearing out repossessed inventory.
"The foreclosure crisis will now be moving up the value chain," CR predicts.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
L.A. Times on Sonoma County Foreclosures
The LA Times highlighted the recent articles from Sunday's PD on their website and had this to say:
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It's laughable that no one is putting 2 & 2 together and taking a hard look at their own market....these loans were wildly popular as the bubble inflated, and not just in Sonoma County.
ReplyDeleteI remember the SF Chronicle ran an article showing the % of mortgages by county that were adjustable....basically everywhere in the Bay Area was 60%+ adjustable.