Tick Tock

Boston Globe (07.25.06):

"Foreclosure filings in Massachusetts increased 66 percent in the second quarter, according to data released yesterday, a trend that is expected to continue over the next year." Mass. foreclosure filings surge 66 percent

And the rate of Massachusett's foreclosures is signficantly lower than it is nationwide. "The state's rate of past-due mortgages -- the number of homeowners more than 30 days behind in their payments, as a percent of total mortgages -- is 3 percent, compared with 4 percent nationwide, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Lenders have filed for foreclosure on 0.6 percent of Massachusetts mortgages, below the 1 percent national rate." Jeremy Shapiro, the president of ForeclosuresMass, "said he was alarmed about the pace of Massachusetts' sharp recent increases. 'The foreclosures in Massachusetts right now are skyrocketing,' he said. 'This is a problem that's going to extend through 2007 and 2008.'" Suicide loans. The interest rates on these things are being reset all over the country, and more and more folks are finding out the hard way what they got themselves into. Something like $2.7 trillion in various ARMs are slated to reset over the next 18 months. Ouch. Then there's this. Bloomberg (12.29.05):

"The housing industry accounts for only about 5 percent of the U.S. economy and yet generated half of the growth in [2005's] first six months and more than half of the private jobs added since 2001, Merrill Lynch & Co. said in an August report." U.S. Economy: Home Resales Fall to Lowest in 8 Months

The engine that drove the economy last year is sputtering. And it's gonna get worse before it gets better. Hang on to your seats folks. The ride's gonna get bumpy.