Subprime Mortgage Defaults Drag Down Consumer Confidence

( EMAILWIRE.COM, April 30, 2007 ) SACRAMENTO - Mortgage defaults and rising gas prices are among the top reasons why April of 2007 witnessed the lowest level of consumer confidence in over eight months. New York’s Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence dropped to 104.0 this past month. This figure is down from 108.2 in March. Last year’s index average was 105.9.

Consumers reported that they don’t believe that there is an abundance of jobs and, as a class, few say they are planning to buy a house. According to the National Association of Realtors previously owned homes are selling at their lowest level in practically four years. Additionally, Americans who say they plan to buy a home in the next six months is at a more than two year low at 2.7 percent.

“Many people still want to buy homes, but prices have gone up so fast that the everyday consumers realize that home prices in most parts of the country are seriously over inflated. We have thousands of people contacting my company every week who want to sell their homes, and only hundreds of people interested in buying a home. This reflects that we are truly in a buyer’s market,” said Patrick McGilvray, J.D., CFP®, President of http://www.TheHomeBuyingCenter.com.

As a result of this Mr. McGilvray reports that his company, which pairs motivated sellers with first-time homebuyers and real estate investors, is spending more time and energy helping homeowners negotiate with their lender to perform a short-sale. This technique is used when a mortgage borrower is unable to keep making mortgage payments, and the bank agrees to accept less than they are owed in order to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of processing a foreclosure. “Short-sales are keeping us and our partners across the nation very busy these days,” added McGilvray.

Home foreclosure rates are up again and, according to an April 18 report from RelatyTrac, more than 149,000 houses entered the foreclosure process in March. This reflects an almost 50 percent jump from the previous year.

On an optimistic note, the Federal Reserve Board does not believe that the recent increases in foreclosures with significantly affect the larger economy nor the ability of most borrowers to obtain credit. Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin recently said that the problems with subprime mortgage defaults “appear to have been minimal.”

Contact:
TheHomeBuyingCenter.com
Patrick McGilvray, J.D.
Tel: 916-920-3278

###

This press release was issued through GroupWeb EmailWire.Com. For more information on unlimited press release distribution, go to http://www.emailwire.com.

This release was published on openPR.