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Text size [+][-]  Saturday July 4 2009GLOBAL EDITION

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14 Aug 2008 21:39

Inadvertent landlords

By Dwight Cass

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US foreclosures rose 55% in July over the year-earlier period, and were 8% higher than in June, according to RealtyTrac, a firm that tracks the real estate market. Bank repossessions rose 184% year-over-year. The firm has over 750,000 properties in its bank-owned real estate database, representing about 17% of all homes for sale.

Fannie Mae had 54,173 single-family foreclosed properties in its portfolio as of June 30, up from 27,144 in the year-earlier period.

Freddie Mac had 22,029 properties in its inventory at the end of June, up from 10,260 a year earlier.


The number of houses in receivership is rising fast, and those held by Fannie and Freddie have doubled in the past year - meaning even better-quality owners are defaulting. That’s a bad omen for the market and for the companies, which must pay a bundle to maintain the properties.

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