Foreclosure numbers in the US housing market are rising. There has been speculation that the rise in foreclosures would cause the real estate market to crash and the housing bubble to burst in 2022 or 2023. The truth is that although foreclosures are rising, there are still far less than historically happen. We are still less than 10% of the total number of foreclosures that caused the housing market to crash in 2008.
One of the reason there are less foreclosures is because many people who were in forebearance or behind on their mortgage now have equity and were able to either sell before they were foreclosed or to make up the late payments. Some homeowners also get new terms from their mortgage company and were able to push those payments into the future.
But there is little evidence that although foreclosures are rising that there will be a crash in the housing market in 2022 or 2023 or that it will negatively affect home prices since foreclosures are at historically low levels.
