North County Tops the Foreclosure List

Posted on August 30th, 2007 by hinson

North County is witnessing the highest foreclosure list and it is expected that the situation will worsen in the years to come. The chances of any betterment in the foreclosure scenario are next to nil. According to the latest reports about the foreclosure activities taking place in the North County, there were near about 2,011 foreclosures in the first six months of the year 2007 most of which were single family homes.

As compared to the last year for the same period, there has certainly been a rise in the rate of foreclosure. Last year, there were nearly 1,523 foreclosed properties in the initial six months of the year 2006. The rate of foreclosure for the complete year 2006 was pretty high with 2,835 houses entering one or the other stage of foreclosure. Since 1998, the foreclosure activities have been the highest in the year 2006.

The numbers of foreclosures have been increasing at a rapid pace since the year 2001. The information technology manager of the planning department of St. Louis County, Mike Duncan was entrusted with the job of compiling the data. His findings suggest that the foreclosure activities are largely concentrated in the North County. The concentrations seem to match with the places having the largest number of sum prime loans.

Sub prime loans are basically meant for people with poor credit ratings who find it tough to secure a loan through reliable sources. These loans usually have a high rate of interest and also there is the problem of pre payment penalties. The adjustable mortgage interest rates have been quite often alleged of causing chaos in the whole nation with maximum number of households bearing the brunt of foreclosure.

High rates of interest in case of easily accessible sub prime loans make it all the more cumbersome for the homebuyers to pay back the loan amount. Mike Duncan is of the say that the rate of sub prime loans in the areas consisting of low income groups are as high as 54% which is held responsible for bringing the catastrophe.

Some of the areas in the county where the highest number of sub prime loans are sought are Ferguson, Berkeley, Spanish Lake, Glasgow Village, Jennings, Dellwood and Pine Lawn. The foreclosure figures obtained from the survey conducted in the counties are not very elaborate. They only include those houses that are going through the procedure of foreclosure. The surveyors generally tend to overlook the filings for foreclosure.