"Just looking at the numbers, we would expect there to be a bigger percentage of properties," headed for repossession, RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist told The Washington Post.
A recent RealtyTrac survey found the rate of foreclosures dropped in February, but homeowners continue to fall behind on their payments. More than 75 percent of homeowners three months or more behind on payments -- termed delinquent borrowers -- have prime loans, First American CoreLogic said, the Post reported Friday.
The first wave of foreclosures in 2008 were made up of mostly borrowers with riskier subprime mortgages.
At this point, as many as 7 million more homes could be swallowed up in foreclosures, a number that would disrupt the housing market for nearly three years, taking that long for the properties to be repossessed and resold, said Diane Westerback, a managing director at rating agency Standard & Poor's.
"Some of the positive housing data may not be signaling a true turning point, as many servicers are holding back on foreclosures and the related houses are not yet being offered for sale," Westerback said.
Copyright 2010 United Press International.
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