Duplex Foreclosures Make Halloween Comeback

The duplex market is like a horror movie.

After all, judging by all of the good news the media has featured about a recovering real estate market, you’d think the bad guy is dead, and we can all go on and celebrate.

Just like the villain who appears dead but really isn’t, the foreclosure crisis isn’t entirely over.

Last week, for example, Lender Processing Services, which is the database for approximately 70 percent of the mortgage market, announced there are still 4,594,000 mortgages in the U.S. going unpaid in the U.S.

Of these, 3,266,000 are 30 days or more past due but not yet in foreclosure.

While this sounds horrific, it’s down 32.18 percent from last September’s 5,640,000 unpaid mortgages. In all, the foreclosure rate was 12.63 percent lower than last September’s rate.

Florida, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Maine lead the way with the most non-current loans. North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Montana and Wyoming had the lowest percentage of non-performing loans.

Foreclosures certainly aren’t the duplex market monster they once were, but we’re a long way from them truly being dead.