Foreclosures Rise 90%

Home foreclosures in May jumped 90 percent from a year earlier, reflecting a poor spring housing market and foreshadowing even higher levels later in 2007, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said Tuesday.

The May foreclosures - a sum of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - totaled 176,137, up 19 percent from April, the firm said in its May 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

"After a barely perceptible dip in April, foreclosure activity roared back with a vengeance in May," James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

With home prices already recording record drops, this news will only fuel the fire. Will the weakness in the housing market extend to other segments of the economy? So far it has not as retail sales have remained strong.

Can this continue with a negative savings rate and energy prices that are still climbing? History would tell us no and with the recent GDP showing near stagnant growth our economic future does not seem so rosy.