Is something news if it is obvious?
Since the start of the recession Mecklenburg County has lost about 30,000 jobs, will see per capital income shrink by about 10 percent by the end of the year, and now we’re told the county will probably have about 9000 foreclosures filed this year, far and away the biggest total in the state. This in a year we are trying reval all real estate, by the way.
But that probably understates the problem.
RealtyTrac reports there are right now about 7000 problem properties on the market in the county — that is pre-foreclosure, bank-owned, auction-ready, etc. If the foreclosure rate holds steady, that number is only going to grow as there is no obvious federal bailout in the works to re-grease the market.
At the same time, there is no reason to assume that overall employment numbers will improve by the end of the year, which means income cannot go up, and without income — foreclosures. Is this confusing to anyone?
Besides our local elected leaders, I mean?
