Flippers are Making Foreclosures Jump

Flippers and other speculators investing in single-family homes helped drive up prices in many hot housing markets during the boom, they’re now contributing heavily to mortgage delinquencies in several of those markets, according to a report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

• As of June 30, in Nevada, 32 % of all prime mortgages in default and 24 % of subprime defaults were on non-owner occupied properties.
• The numbers for Arizona were 26 % prime and 18 % subprime.
• In California, they were 21 % and 15 % respectively.
• The default rates in Florida for non-owner occupied homes were 25 % for prime loans and 14 % for subprime ones.
• In the rest of the nation, non-owners accounted for just 13 % of prime loan defaults and 11 % of subprime.

“When this over-supply became apparent and prices began to fall, many of these investors simply walked away from their mortgages.” Doug Duncan, the MBA’s chief economist, said in a statement.