Housing foreclosure activity in the United States dropped to the lowest level since 2005 last month, according to a business research group.
ATTOM Data Solutions tracks default notices, auctions, and bank repossessions across the nation and says the number of actions dropped 23 percent from a year ago. That means more than 77,000 homeowners missed payments and banks took some kind of action to try to get their loans repaid.
Severe problems in the U.S. housing market, and sales of securities backed by sometimes faulty mortgages, played a key role in the financial crisis, which is one reason that investors and economists watch the housing market closely.
Seattle, Washington was the city that did the best in this study, with the number of foreclosure notices dropping 38 percent from the same time a year ago. Atlantic City, New Jersey had the worst foreclosure problem in this study, with one out of every 237 housing units getting a notice of some kind.
据一个商业研究机构的报告，美国住房的法拍活动已降至2005年来的最低水平。
跟踪全美各地违约通知、拍卖和银行收回等活动的房地产数据提供商ATTOM Data Solutions表示，这些活动的数量比一年前降低了百分之23，这意味着有7万7千多名房屋所有者没有按期支付房贷，银行采取了某种措施让他们的欠贷能够还上。
美国房屋市场的严重问题，以及由有时存在问题的房贷支撑下的证券销售，在金融危机中起了推波助澜的作用。这就是为什么投资者和经济学家如此密切关注房屋市场的原因。
华盛顿州西雅图市在此项研究中表现最佳，法拍屋通知的数量比一年前降低了百分之38；而新泽西州大西洋城法拍问题最严重，每237座住房单位就有一个接到某种通知。