Foreclosure Rates Soar Across Midwest

We’ve talked at length about how the Midwest housing market has slumped this year amid struggling industry and higher home costs than many can bear.

As is expected, delinquency rates in the Midwest have risen this year in part because massive cuts in the nation’s auto industry, according to one real estate investment advisory firm.

According to the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, the Midwest region of the U.S., which includes South Dakota, has already seen the foreclosure rate rise 61 percent this year over the previous year.

More residents are finding it harder to make the mortgage loan payments on time. As the year comes to a close the Midwest has had 193,737 foreclosure filings, up from 120,298 filings in 2005.

There may, however, still be some good news, Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com, said.

“The foreclosure frenzy appears to be slowing,” McGee said. “With less than a month left in 2006, and despite manufacturing cuts that have hit the Midwest hard, in general we’re seeing real estate markets stabilize.”

Hopefully, the housing market continues to stabilize throughout the U.S. and we will be spared what many fear most: a major market correction that threatens the health of the U.S. economy.