Comments (scroll down to add your own):

1. I have always wondered… That is very interesting! Did they name the counties?

   Thanks,
   Nate

   Comment by Nate @ Debt-free Scholar — Mar 7th 2009 @ 9:13 am

2. Click through on the link and it has a map of the counties. The ones outlined in red are the 35. They are centered around LA, SF, Florida, and the Chicago-Detroit area.

   This was a good read. Thanks for the post Nickel

   Comment by the weakonomist — Mar 7th 2009 @ 9:21 am

3. I see your point, but don’t forget also that 50 percent of the foreclosures did not occur in those handful of counties. Here in KC, the ripple effect from the ones down the street are what are stalling our property values and making the municipal budget writers blanch.

   Comment by Gene at www.kitchentablenomics.com — Mar 7th 2009 @ 2:28 pm

4. No no no! This CRISIS is everywhere! we need MORE gov’t intervention to stop this CRISIS! Gov’t is the ONLY solution! This is the worst economy in HISTORY!

   Comment by thomas — Mar 9th 2009 @ 2:04 am

5. That’s pretty amazing. At that level, you might be able to get down to the individual mortgage originators who helped the bubble take off. At some point, somebody had to relax their standards to the point that they were 1) getting lots of business, that 2) would lead to serious trouble down the road.

   Comment by TaxRascal — Mar 9th 2009 @ 10:06 am

6. This is going to change as more people lose jobs and can’t make their mortgage payments. Ultimately there will be more foreclosures due to job loss than there will be foreclosures due to bad loans.

   Comment by KC — Mar 9th 2009 @ 10:34 am

7. Real estate still has a way to go, so the distribution of foreclosures could skew away from those 35 counties as job loss becomes more of an issue than bad loans.

   Comment by Chad @ Sentient Money — Mar 9th 2009 @ 5:18 pm

8. CA, FL, MI, AZ and NV are the states that are driving this “collapse”. In 18 states, home prices have increased slightly. The remaining states are about even or slighlty down.

   While the economic downturn is the primary factor for the decline in the aforementioned states, two states in particular stand out, due to high taxes and regulation, namely CA and MI.

   I doubt if these states are doing anything to help by lowering income or property taxes, thereby lowering the debt service burden of homeowners, or at least what’s left of them.

   Comment by mike — Mar 17th 2009 @ 8:38 pm

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