Listings Foreclosures - Read the Latest Foreclosure Listings News.

The surge in foreclosure listings nationwide resulted in one of the worst economic downturn seen in the U.S. in decades. The problem happened in almost all parts of the country. In Virginia, several local areas' housing markets are still reeling, thereby causing the region's economic recovery to stall. Foreclosures and vacant residences continue to flood some parts of the state.

The rise in Richmond and Big Island foreclosures and distressed properties in other metro areas of Virginia was somehow expected, some analysts have opined. They stated that when the housing market crisis hit, big cities were the ones expected to be affected. However, there are also smaller rural areas and towns that experienced considerable increases in foreclosures, while others saw their housing markets slumping as various factors hammer the sector.

The oversupply of houses under foreclosure listing in Virginia was largely blamed for the economic difficulty that continues to plague the town of Culpeper. According to local economists, the area experienced massive housing growth before the crisis, with thousands of new homes being built in former farm fields. When the housing sector tanked, a lot of people, particularly at the west side of the town, lost their residential properties to foreclosure. Now, homebuilders are reporting that they hardly had any home construction activity in the region for the past seven or so years.

With foreclosure listings nationwide projected to rise again within the year, a lot of local homebuilders have changed course and are now involved in property management or have totally turned their backs on real estate. A big number though, have opted to build rental properties, with most of the stock coming from foreclosed homes being sold at discounted prices in the town.

According to real estate market observers in the region, the massive supply of properties under foreclosed bank and FHA listings has resulted in decreases in property values and increase in the number of empty houses. The worst of it was that Culpeper is heavily reliant on the real property market in terms of the direction of its economy. With most analysts expecting the housing market to take at least two years to return to pre-crisis level, economists stated that this means that the town's economy may also take that long to stabilize.

Culpeper was not the only local market in the U.S. whose economy is driven mainly by the residential property sector. With foreclosure listings nationwide up for another increase in the coming months, most people expect the whole nation's economy to continue to drag its feet forward.

The number of properties on foreclosure list in most regions of the U.S. is expected to rise further as the year progresses. Part of the reason is the huge number of mortgages that are currently underwater. Underwater loans are those that cost more than the values of the properties for which they were taken out for.

Locally, Richmond home foreclosures are in danger of rising further for the rest of 2011, just like most U.S. areas, as the region also suffers from huge numbers of underwater loans. During the October-December 2010 quarter, 11.1 million homeowners are believed to be paying a higher rate on their mortgages than the value of their residential properties. Underwater mortgages are considered factors behind foreclosures since those with negative equity or underwater loans are unlikely to be able to sell their homes, an option often considered by homeowners who are having difficulties paying their monthly mortgages.

Virginia foreclosure listings and foreclosed property listings all over the U.S. are expected to grow in 2011 as the number of properties with negative equity accounted for over 23% of total mortgaged houses during the last quarter of the previous year. Compared with the third quarter of last year, nationwide underwater loans for the fourth quarter represented an increase as July-September 2010 figures showed that more than 22% of total mortgages were underwater during that period, which was equivalent to 10.8 million residential properties.

Housing industry analysts claimed that the state most likely to experience further increases in the number of properties on foreclosure list is Nevada as the region has the highest percentage of underwater mortgage loans. Around two-thirds of residential properties in Nevada have underwater loans as of the fourth quarter of last year.

Those states that have the highest number of foreclosed and pre foreclosure listing properties also happened to be the areas with the biggest percentage of underwater loans, analysts have said. Other states in the top five were Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan, with underwater percentages in these markets hovering near the 50% mark. Meanwhile, Oklahoma posted the lowest percentage of underwater loans during the last quarter of 2010, with the area only having 5.8% of its total mortgages considered as underwater.

Despite the decline in the number of foreclosure filings in February, analysts stated that the housing market is still far from a recovery. They stated that underwater mortgages pose huge problems since they can eventually end up as properties on foreclosure list. Further rise in foreclosure numbers can bring another wave of massive home price declines, analysts have added.

In San Diego County, foreclosed home list prices and other home list prices increased again in June, with the median sales price surpassing the $300,000 level.

As the home sales price increased for the third straight month, some housing analysts are hoping that the market is approaching the road to recovery.

The median home price reached $314,250 in June, the highest price level since October last year. It marked a jump of 6.5 percent from the median sales price in May 2008, but it is still far below the median sales price in June 2008.

Housing market analysts in the San Diego area explained that the median price has jumped up because the pace of properties getting into foreclosed home list inventories has slowed down.

However, housing analysts contend that the slowdown is only temporary, as several foreclosure moratoriums were implemented in California. The latest foreclosure moratorium is the three-month notification regulation for defaulting mortgages.

Nevertheless, most large lenders in California have already earned the right not to implement the foreclosure moratorium regulation because they already have crafted loan modification schemes that passed the standards of state regulators.

State officials ruled that lenders can get exempted from the new three-month foreclosure moratorium if they have already developed and are already implementing state-approved loan modification schemes.

A lecturer at the San Diego State University explained that the gain in the median sales price and in the foreclosed home list price in June was an encouraging sign, but it is not a definite sign of approaching market recovery. He also mentioned that home purchases traditionally increase during summer because it is the time many parents move closer to their children?s schools.

In June, home sales reached 3,692 units, an increase of 14 percent compared to sales in May and an increase of 20 percent compared to sales in June last year.

Based on the same data, the median resale price in June, including median foreclosed home list price, was $350,000, an increase of 7.7 percent compared to May this year, but represented a drop of 13.6 percent compared to June last year.

The median sales price for pre-owned condo units was $210,000, marking a jump of 5.5 percent compared to May this year and represented a drop of 19 percent from the May 2008 price.

According to an economist at the National University System Institute for Policy Research, the jump in median house prices, especially foreclosed home list prices, is an indication that the market is nearing the start of its recovery. Many struggling Californians hope so.

The first seven months of this year saw a dramatic increase in the number of commercial foreclosures on REO property listings. In Denton County, commercial foreclosures jumped by 156 percent from January to July, compared with 66 for the same period the previous year. REO property listings are swamped with foreclosed office buildings, retail centers, [...]

More homes are expected to go to foreclosure auction listings in Wichita Falls this year, as the number of foreclosure filings in the first half this year has already exceeded last year’s first half total.

Foreclosure listing sales are increasing in affluent places in San Diego County such as Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel Valley, La Jolla, Del Mar and Point Loma and other central San Diego gated neighborhoods, as shown in reports of San Diego County foreclosure listings in May.

Some Wall Street institutions have been criticized by many housing analysts and consumer advocates for their role in the subprime lending crisis that led to the national economic downturn and the growth of foreclosed home listings.

The increase in the number of homebuyers and investors looking for bargains in bank foreclosed home listings and purchasing foreclosed houses have pressured the median home sale price in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to drop by almost 30 percent.

For homeowners who lost their properties to foreclosure, buying them back is a dream they would always have. The dream has become a reality to some homeowners who were able to buy back their houses in foreclosure list.

In several areas of California, Arizona, Washington, D.C. and the Twin Cities metro area, a rising number of first-time homebuyers have been bidding against investors in buying bargain-priced homes included in foreclosure homes listings.