U.S. Treasury Sec. Paulson says lenders sought 1.5 million home foreclosures last year.
In March, Paulson pegged this year’s toll at two million.
In July, he raised it to 2.5 million.
Last month, lenders sent foreclosure documents on 303,879 properties.
Four million foreclosures. How much is that?
The highest U.S. average housing sale price was logged during the first quarter of 2007: $322,100.
That means $1.1 trillion would buy all four million foreclosure homes at the sky-highest average price ever.
The U.S. would own four million houses.
From 2002 through 2006, the U.S. built four million houses.
We’d be buying back the housing boom.
For sure, we have lots to buy back---our Constitution, the longest war, our Chinese debts, family values, those stupid-looking ‘town centers’ we build at Interstate exchanges---so we might consider a more cost-effective strategy.
Paulson says subprime mortgages account for half of all foreclosures.
If we buy back only the subprime foreclosures, our worst-case price tag is $600 million, two million houses.
Paulson says California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada mortgages account 42 percent of U.S. foreclosures.
If we buy back only the California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada foreclosures, we’d get new construction almost exclusively---houses that were built from 2003-2006.
Paulson wants $700 million to keep the economy afloat until President Obama takes office---and four million American home buyers will have to get out and swim for their lives, sorry about the sharks. Paulson guesses one in 10 is a speculator.
Lenders and lobbyists will share in the tragedy by personally witnessing the carnage from the sun deck.
About 69 percent of Americans are home owners. Four million houses---or two million---will flood the market and depress housing values for a decade.