Industry watchers rethink expected flood of foreclosures
Bakersfield Californian
By Courtenay Edelhart
... Ever since the housing market crashed, real estate experts and economists have predicted a gigantic wave of new foreclosures. "Like everyone else, I've been waiting, but we're not seeing the big influx that was expected," said Jim Summers, an agent with Re/MAX Golden Empire. "At this point, I wouldn't bank on anything." Neither would many real estate experts, who now say it's not clear that the massive second wave is coming.
It isn't in anyone's best interest for a ton of houses to flood the market and drive down prices again, so the public and private sectors have collaborated to prevent that, said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast at the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.
The federal government doesn't want more downward pressure on the nation's economy. Banks don't want to see the value of their assets plummet. And cities don't want the blight of row upon row of empty, neglected houses. "As long as interest rates stay low, I think banking and government interests will be able to maintain some degree of market stability," Conway said...