Foreclosures continue to pile up in Cobb

The Marietta Daily Journal
By Ashley Hungerford
ahungerford@mdjonline.com

For the year, 8,297 pieces of property have been advertised for foreclosure auction, which is a 53.9 percent increase over the 5,391 properties advertised during the same time period in 2008.

For the August 2008 sale, there were 861 properties facing foreclosure.

… Dr. Don Sabbarese, director of the Econometric center at Kennesaw State University, said he foresees continued foreclosure issues through the end of this year.

"Until we see the job market improving and housing market stabilize, we'll continue to have foreclosure issues," he said. "These strong factors driving foreclosures are not going away."

For months, adjustable rate mortgages and other risky loans were the main culprit leading to foreclosure. But now, Sabbarese points to the continual high rate of unemployment as the major force behind foreclosures.

"With layoffs, furloughs and shorter work hours, there are all kinds of things disrupting people's income," he said. "People are having to readjust their balance sheets and debt levels."

Cobb unemployment rate in May was 9 percent. This is a 0.6 percent increase from a rate of 8.4 percent the county has held since February. The unemployment rate for Georgia rose 0.5 percent in May, from 9 percent in April to 9.5 percent.

According to the Georgia Department of Labor, there were 370,364 people in Cobb's labor force in May, of which, 33,183 were unemployed.

Plus, with housing prices continuing to slide, Sabbarese said some people are getting into situations to where they owe more on their home than it is actually worth. Many of those homeowners chose to just walk away from their homes, he said.