According to mortgage rating agency Fitch, the number of mortgage payments that were 90 days in arrears grew unexpectedly by 12.5 percent in the last quarter of 2010. The data shows more people are defaulting on their mortgages and it is only expected to get worse.
Tammy May, founder of MyBudget says “We are definitely seeing a lot of arrears. There’s no slowdown in our business but the mortgage is generally the highest priority, or whichever collector is harassing them the most,”
Lisa Montgomery, CEO of Resi Home Loans says stressed-out borrowers should talk to their lenders immediately and not wait until it’s too late.
ยป Shock rise in mortgage default cases – News Limited, 28th March 2011.
“…grew unexpectedly…”, not at all unexpected by few charity and not-for-profit organisations that are making note of this too, and have been for a while. This is terrible, yes I realise someone may have bitten off more than they could chew, or the banks afforded too much credit where they shouldn’t have, or both. Still its’ not a good situation for anyone.
Wonder just how many of those now in arrears have been using their “Equity” to buy all the nice things, in order to “keep up with the Joneses”? Just wait ’till the “buy now, pay in 36 months” payments start (maybe the Govt. might have another excuse for the collapse of the general economy – Harvey Norman’s et al.’s “irresponsible” finance policies!!)
Yes this is terrible, but at the end of the day people need to start living within their means. That means cutting out luxuries and concentrating on necessaties. These days the younger generation want everything now, (plasma TV
There are going to be alot of pissed off people if house prices fall. All those First home buyers that took the bait hook line and sinker, are now stuck with rising living costs, interest rates and falling asset prices. Stuck in a rut
Scenes in England may not ne foreign in Australia “if people lose everything, then they have nothing else to lose so they lose it” Must acknowledge Gerald Celente for that quote.
Please note the 32% National Auction Clearance rates for Jan 2011. Where have all the buyers gone? Or they all in.
Just to put things in perspective: Plasma TV’s and iPods are very cheap nowerdays.
Unexpected? By whom? This is little surprise to those of us who acknowledge that houses are overpriced.
AverageBloke,
Plasma TV
@Romsey,
To continue on from your post, the fractional percentage increase in retail spending is attributable to the natural disaster insurance claims.
Maybe unexpected credit card use may have been better news for the increase, I don’t know. A surprise revelation on how retail statistics are calculated would be unexpected, but that also changes all the time too (I think).