Jim Buchta's column in the Star Tribune this Sunday discussed Minnesota mortgages, and there actually was some good news to be had. According to CoreLogic, as quoted by Buchta, for the first quarter of 2011, 16.1% of all Minnesotans are underwater on their mortgages, vs. 16.7% for the same quarter in 2010. This is far below the national average of 22.7% in 2011 and 23.7% in 2010.
The largest disparity lies between those who have a second mortgage or home equity loan, and those who do not - 40% and 18% respectively. For the record, we were actually pleasantly surprised at this number, as, given our experience in the local Scott County marketplace, we would have thought these numbers were much much higher.
So what does all this mean? Stability? Perhaps. These numbers do relate to foreclosure rates in that as homeowners who are underwater lose homes to foreclosure, the overall number of upside-down mortages declines.
In terms of our West Savage marketplace, foreclosures are still present but not nearly as prevalent as they were in 2009 and 2010. And we do expect that banks will slowly be releasing shadow inventory to the market. But the slower approach to doing so does help ease the pricing pressure a bit for sellers, and this is finally some good news coming from the media.
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