Foreclosure Statistics

There are two issues about the current "sub-prime" mortgage market "crisis", for lack of a better word, that I think are worth investigating separately.

The first is the underlying statistical data. I have heard many numbers passed around and newscasters, reporters and pundits are referring to various data points in what appears to me to be imprecise terms. In my mind, there is one important question about this data: How many of these foreclosures are single-home owners and how many are not and thus likely to be investors (aka speculators)? It seems to me this should be an important distinction to make in terms of policy decisions.

The second issue is how these numbers are affecting the credit markets and how are our financial experts dissecting the data? Are they questioning and vetting the data or is fear ruling the day?

In this light, I think Elizabeth Rhodes of The Seattle Times raises a some important points in her article "Numbers from foreclosure statistics company questioned". I encourage you to read it and share any other articles that might take a more critical look as these numbers people are so easily reciting.

I would like to see more of our news media looking at the underlying numbers before they start citing some of these numbers as fact.

Who's doing the hard work?