The number of house foreclosures for sale in the city of Cedar in Utah that closed in 2009 accounted for around 32 percent of all home sales.

With short sales accounting for another 20 percent of overall home sales, distressed sales in Cedar City accounted for more than 50 percent of all home sales in the city last year.

The record number of short sales and foreclosures sales in the city pulled down home prices significantly, cutting down the median sales price of $176,000 in 2008 to $145,000 last year.

A typical house in the city, usually measuring 2,000 square feet and usually priced at $260,000 during the boom years, is now being sold off at only $150,000.

Additionally, many homeowners during the boom took out home equity loans, pushing their total mortgage loan amounts to unusually high levels in comparison to their incomes. Many of these homeowners now are staying in houses valued far below their total mortgage loan balances.

Some took out equity loans from their primary residences and invested in lower-priced second homes, making them pressured after the downturn to let their higher-priced first homes become house foreclosures for sale.

According to many real estate agents, the housing market will stay on as a buyer’s dream market in the next several years. This contention has forced older professionals to rethink and review their investments in real estate as their retirement years are approaching because they may not have enough money to spend during their retirement years.

Jennie Hendricks, founder of a Cedar City-based real estate firm, said that 2009 was a transition year for real estate agents, buyers and sellers. She added that agents need to adjust to changes in the property market, including acquiring expertise in short sales and foreclosure sales. Sellers and buyers meanwhile need to know how to adopt to new market practices and policies, including drastic changes in lending regulations.

Hendricks added that lenders are now learning from their huge losses from foreclosures and are now returning to the strict lending policies implemented decades ago. Banks now are again requiring new borrowers to put at least 20 percent down before approving their home loan applications.

For this year, veteran real estate professional Ronnie Vause is more optimistic about the housing market than most, saying that after most house foreclosures for sale are absorbed, the market will begin to get back to normalcy by the end of the second quarter.

Miami foreclosure listings are getting filled with underwater homes as more underwater homeowners deliberately default and let their homes go into foreclosure, according to a recent study conducted by credit analyst Experian and consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

In South Florida, where many houses have fallen in value by 50 percent, many homeowners have deliberately defaulted even if they had the money to pay their loans. They chose to pay their other debts, such as credit card debts, and to have some savings to help them start over.

In Miami-Dade, about 28 percent of mortgage delinquencies in the last quarter of 2008 were deliberate defaults, marking an increase of 8 percent from the last quarter in 2007.

With property values continuing their downward slide, analysts contend that the number of deliberate defaults will continue to rise.

Another reason for the increase in defaults is the disappearance of the stigma of being foreclosed. Foreclosure is now a common occurrence, so it is easier for homeowners now to just give up and move out of their homes or wait for eviction.

Foreclosure defense lawyer Roy Oppenheim said that borrowers who are allowing their homes to enter Miami foreclosure listings are justifying to themselves that many others are getting foreclosed. Oppenheim conducts seminars on strategic defaults and financial options for troubled homeowners.

According to a foreclosure tracking firm, the total amount of all home loans in South Florida collectively exceed the total value of all mortgaged homes in the region by $62.7 billion. In Miami-Dade, about 50 percent of all mortgages are underwater.

As of March, the median negative equity in Broward for borrowers who took out loans in 2006 was $75,000. Negative equity is equal to the gap between the home market value and the mortgage loan balance. The median for borrowers in Miami-Dade was $63,000, based on an online real estate firm.

Andrea Heuson, a professor of finance at the University of Miami, said that she does not blame homeowners for deliberately defaulting because of their significant losses.

On the other hand, William Hardin, a professor of real estate at Florida International University, insisted that homeowners are morally obliged to pay their loans if they can.

Amazingly, strategic defaulters have been discovering that they can repair their credit records after foreclosure more quickly than they expected by just keeping current with their other financial obligations such as credit card debts.

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The number of sold non-foreclosure properties and foreclosed lists in California increased by more than 35 percent in May, based on residential real estate sales data in the state.

The increase in sales is attributed to a mix of factors including high affordability levels, lower mortgage rates and large inventories of foreclosed listings and other types of homes to choose from. Another factor is the approaching expiration of the federal tax credit offered to first time home buyers.

Because of the large percentage of first time home buyers participating in the market, the number of foreclosed properties for sale and other pre-owned properties surpassed again the 500,000 adjusted yearly rate for the ninth straight month.

In May, sales of foreclosed properties for sale and non-foreclosed pre-owned single family houses reached the adjusted yearly pace of 556,590. This pace represented more than 35 percent increase from the adjusted yearly pace of 411,770 in May 2008.
Compared to April, the adjusted yearly pace for May rose by nearly 3 percent.

The adjusted yearly pace refers to total homes sold for the year if the monthly pace is maintained throughout the year. The seasonally adjusted yearly pace incorporate seasonal factors that usually affect house sales.

The median sales price for a previously-owned single-family house in May was $267,570, representing a decrease of more than 30 percent from the adjusted median sales price of $384,540 in May last year.

Compared to April, the May median sales price increased by more than 4 percent to $256,700. Based on sales records, the median sales price across California increased for the third straight month in May. Almost all regional markets in the state had increases in median sales prices on a month-to-month basis.

Meanwhile, the volume of unsold single-family houses in May, including foreclosed properties for sale, was worth 4.2 months, a drop from the 8.7 month level in May 2008. This figure refers to the number of months required to sell the whole supply of homes in the market at current sale pace.

Finally, nine of 353 cities studied had increases in median sales prices in May compared to prices in May 2008. This means that the majority of local housing markets in California have still affordable home prices. With the expected rise in number of foreclosed properties for sale in the coming months, affordability level would still be high and more favorable for home buyers.

Several top federal officials are gearing to do battle with foreclosures to restore activity, order and confidence in the housing market across the country. They told participants of the National Association of Real Estate Editors’ annual conference that they are committed to clipping the growth of repo homes listings to allow recovery in the housing market and economy.

In a speech delivered by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan at a national conference of real estate editors in June, Donovan provided updates on the initial accomplishments of the federal government foreclosures program.