PBS高端访谈:没收率增高 房产市场愈加脆弱

 　　JEFFREY BROWN: The housing market is showing more signs of mending from the depths of the foreclosure crisis.

　　A new report from RealtyTrac finds banks are repossessing fewer homes than a year ago, and general foreclosure activity has declined for 22 consecutive¹ months. Still, there was plenty of sobering news. The number of homes in July that received an initial notice of default, the first step in a foreclosure, was up 6 percent from a year ago, and nearly 60,000 homes are being repossessed by lenders each month.

　　California has the highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 325 homes receiving a foreclosure notice last month.

　　Guy Cecala watches all this closely as CEO and publisher of "Inside Mortgage Finance," a housing industry research publication.

　　Welcome to you.

　　GUY CECALA, "Inside Mortgage Finance": Thank you, Jeff.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So, filings are down, continuing a trend.

　　Explain that part of the equation. What's going on?

　　GUY CECALA: Well, filings are down basically means that we're seeing less people getting into trouble and -- due to job loss or some -- basically an improving economy is helping² the number of people flowing into the system.

　　But we still have a lot of people who have been in the system for a while and are still facing foreclosure.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Before we get to that -- so foreclosure action, I just want to understand what we mean by these numbers. Parse³ these numbers a little bit for us. What does that mean?

　　GUY CECALA: Right.

　　Well, there are a couple steps in a foreclosure. Obviously, the first one is you go into default. And legally someone's got to file a default notice, usually the lender, on your -- on their behalf, and then the next thing they do is initiate⁴ a foreclosure. The final step that may take place a year later is actually evicting⁵ someone from a home and having a foreclosure sale. So there are many steps along that way.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Now, also, as you said a big decline in the bank repossessions of houses, what's led to that?

　　GUY CECALA: I think there's been some improvement in the situation, in the marketplace that we're seeing in terms of foreclosures overall.

　　The inventory⁶ of foreclosures is down. It's probably the lowest level we have seen in three years. In fact, the Mortgage Bankers Association released data today on that foreclosure inventory. So there are some improving signs. It's just that it's not across the board yet and certainly it's a huge problem. We're far from outside of the foreclosure crisis.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Well, explain the other part of the equation. The -- at the same time the filings are down new foreclosures are up.

　　GUY CECALA: Yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: What does that mean?

　　GUY CECALA: That pretty much means that lenders, particularly in what we call judicial⁷ foreclosure states, the ones they have to get -- go through court, are working through a backlog⁸ that built up last year due to pending⁹ litigation.

　　The attorney generals in the United States were all banding together to go after some of the major servicers, and basically a lot of foreclosures were put on hold, or at least the final step of trying to sell off the property.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Bring us up to date on that, because we watched it carefully. There was that -- there was that -- the backlog, as you say, and a kind of stoppage, right, and then the settlement.

　　So where does all that stand?

　　GUY CECALA: Well, theoretically, it's opened the door for servicers to proceed, but somewhat cautiously, in pursuing foreclosures now. And in some of the states, the ones with judicious¹⁰ foreclosures -- judicial foreclosures, we're starting to see action pick up, meaning more foreclosures. They are trying to work through the backlog.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: All right.

　　GUY CECALA: But it's still a slow process.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So new ones increasing, but overall pool of people in the foreclosure going down?

　　GUY CECALA: Exactly.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: OK.

　　GUY CECALA: We're still selling. The banks are doing a good job in terms of selling the properties once they come out of foreclosure, too. And that's a sign of a healing housing market and the fact that there's more demand than there probably has been in four or five years.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Now, is this market -- this is still a regional phenomenon, right? It totally depends where you are?

　　GUY CECALA: Exactly.

　　It varies dramatically by region. I think we have been closely watching what we call the sand states, parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida, because they were the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, and to some extent they're showing the most immediate¹¹ signs of improvement.

　　We're starting to see some home prices actually move upward in those areas.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Are there still some -- well, you say California, but California, as we said, still that has most.

　　GUY CECALA: It is. And California is like...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Because of the depth of the problem.

　　GUY CECALA: It is. It's the largest state in terms of people, mortgages and everything else.

　　It's also like three different regions. Like, San Diego's very different than the San Francisco housing market. So it's hard to make some generalities about a state that size.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: And what about regions or states that are still really stuck and still really mired¹²?

　　GUY CECALA: Well, there are some states, like Michigan, Ohio that never really had a housing boom, and we still don't see any recovery. They basically just had the housing bust¹³ part of it.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: What about other signs that you look at for the health of the sector¹⁴ overall?

　　I saw Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac showed a profit this week. What does that tell you?

　　GUY CECALA: Well, that's very interesting because they're kind of a barometer¹⁵ of the health of the housing market and the mortgage market, since they have been posting literally¹⁶ billions of dollars of loss. Taxpayers¹⁷ have paid something like $142 billion into those companies...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: That's why I noted¹⁸ the profit.

　　GUY CECALA: ... because of the losses they have taken, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that not only have they had mortgages go bad and they have had to repossess the properties, but when they have had to turn around and sell them, they have sold them at much less than the value of the property was originally.

　　And both of those things are improving. They're selling more properties at higher prices, and they're seeing less loans go bad.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: All right, Guy Cecala on the housing market, thanks so much.

　　GUY CECALA: Thank you.

1 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 parse   

v.从语法上分析；n.从语法上分析

参考例句：

• I simply couldn't parse what you just said.我完全无法对你刚说的话作语法分析。
• It causes the parser to parse an NP.它调用分析程序分析一个名词短语。

4 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

5 evicting   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. 花在打击性侵犯者上的钱并不能花在治疗这一社会问题上。 来自互联网
• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. Does this matter? 钱被花费在驱逐性犯罪者而不是用做教育他们，这样做真的好么？ 来自互联网

6 inventory   

n.详细目录，存货清单

参考例句：

• Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
• We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。

7 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

8 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

9 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

10 judicious   

adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的

参考例句：

• We should listen to the judicious opinion of that old man.我们应该听取那位老人明智的意见。
• A judicious parent encourages his children to make their own decisions.贤明的父亲鼓励儿女自作抉择。

11 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

12 mired   

abbr.microreciprocal degree 迈尔德（色温单位）v.深陷( mire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The country was mired in recession. 这个国家陷入了经济衰退的困境。
• The most brilliant leadership can be mired in detail. 最有才干的领导也会陷于拘泥琐事的困境中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

14 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

15 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

16 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

17 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

18 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。