I have just spent some unfruitful time seeking statistics related to housing in the United States. I particularly want to find if there is a national statistic of home repossessions in 2004.

All we hear about are how many new homes were built, and we know that many of these homes are built for purposes of speculation, not as primary dwellings for those who are having them built.

I just wondered how many residents are losing their homes because they cannot pay for them.

Can somebody help me?

PE,

This looks like a good starting point:

Foreclosure.com

and this site gets mentioned in articles I've looked at:

RealtyTrac.com

Try using the keywork foreclosure instead of repossession. Cars get repossessed, houses get foreclosed. I've also seen houses around here go to auction, not sure how that works.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Thanks, AuthorMusician. I do get the words "foreclosure" and "repossession" mixed up.

What do you think, guys? Would having an accessible statistic on home (as in residential) foreclosures to balance the statistic on new homes under construction balance the data a little better and provide a better view of what the economy is doing?

Be careful what you draw from the stats. The emergence of zero down loans leads to more people losing a home than in the past.

But it is the financial institutions that provide zero-down loans to customers. Is that also not an economic indicator?

Businesses only provide these incentives when they feel they can profit from them.
And zero-down loans are not new in the scheme of things. Curmudgeon says they were available some time ago in FHA-235 loans and VA loans.

They have always been available, but have become much more popular in the last few years. Many people now get into a home for less than 1% of the sales price of the home. They have no equity to lose. If home prices go down a lot of financial organizations are going to take a big hit.