The Obama administration’s Housing Scorecard for November spotlights Atlanta, which recently saw the worst ever monthly price decline in the history of the S&P/Case-Shiller indices.
The scorecard includes a number of graphics showing the Atlanta metro area’s relative weakness, like this one that shows job growth still negative:
And here’s how Atlanta’s foreclosure rates look compared to the nation as a whole:
The scorecard also details large sums spent by various federal programs to try to boost housing in Atlanta. From a piece on Housing Wire:
In the past two years, mortgage assistance has been offered to 135,800 Atlanta area borrowers. About 114,300 home preservation initiatives were provided through Housing Affordable Modification Program and the Federal Housing Administration. In addition, 21,500 modifications were offered through the Hope Now alliance of servicers.
Georgia benefited from the more than $339 million distributed through the Hardest Hit Fund to help the area deal with mortgage defaults and other issues stemming from financial problems facing homeowners. Seven jurisdictions in Georgia also received a total of $91.2 million from the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, while Georgia received another $97 million to help the state stabilize foreclosure–riddled areas.
Those efforts sound significant, but they have had little effect in the face of the region’s troubles.
And there’s this from today’s AJC: SunTrust may buy back more soured mortgages from investors. From the piece:
Mortgage repurchase demands have been trending up for SunTrust the past few quarters. SunTrust had repurchase demands from investors of $440 million in third quarter, up from $348 million in second quarter and $263 million in third quarter a year ago.
Investors have made $4.4 billion in cumulative requests from loans issued since 2005, resulting in losses to the bank of $1 billion, according to SunTrust’s third quarter earnings presentation.
“Unfortunately the losses relating to the housing market continue to have an impact on bank earnings,†said Terry McEvoy, a bank analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York.
Shares of SunTrust dropped more than 6 percent Tuesday.