MSN Money

Foreclosure “Crisis” Is Overblown

Although the national foreclosure rate rose 79 percent between December 2006 and December 2007, the rate was still only 1.033 percent. This is a regional problem, not reflective of the overall real estate market.


Keep this in mind …

• Foreclosure statistics are rarely presented in context. Because about 30 percent of homes are owned free and clear, only seven-tenths of 1 percent of all homes were in foreclosure last year.
  
  
• If you rank the top 100 foreclosure areas identified by RealtyTrac as reported in MSN Money, only 34 areas had foreclosure rates above the group average.
  
  
• Fifty-one areas had rates of 1 percent or less.
  
  
• Foreclosure rates actually fell in 14 of the top 100 foreclosure areas.

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