Recession Watch

Foreclosure Rates Trickle Up

Rise in expensive housing markets.

The recession has been trickling upward. According to The Wall Street Journal, foreclosure rates are rising in the housing market's top tiers. In June, 30 percent of foreclosures involved homes in the top third of the housing market, up from 15 percent when the crisis began three years ago, while the bottom third of housing markets accounts for 35 percent of foreclosures, down from 55 percent in 2006, the paper said, citing new data from Zillow.com, a real-estate Web site. Foreclosures in expensive markets have accelerated as home values in those markets fall, leaving an estimated one-in-four homeowners with mortgages valued higher than their homes.