The U.S. housing market may be in for yet another crush of foreclosures, according o the Center for Responsible Lending.

 

About 2.7 million households that took out mortgages between 2004 and 2008 have already lost their homes to foreclosure. Now, there are 3.6 million more homeowners at “immediate, serious risk” of default. And this number does not even include loans that began before 2004.

 

While the majority of Americans who have lost their homes or are seriously delinquent are white, foreclosure rates for minority borrowers are twice as high. In fact, 25% of all black and Hispanic mortgage holders are in trouble compared to 12% of white borrowers.

 

The Center for Responsible Lending says minorities were more likely to receive high-cost, subprime loans than other borrowers, which helps to explain why they are at more risk. African-Americans and Latinos with good credit (above 660) were three times more likely to receive high interest rate loans as white borrowers with the same rating.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Worst May Be Yet to Come in Foreclosure Crisis, Study Says (by Ben Hallman, iWatch News)

Lost Ground, 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosures (by Debbie Gruensten Bocian, Wei Li, Carolina Reid and Roberto G. Quercia, Center for Responsible Lending) (pdf)