According to a forecast issued by Realty Trac Inc. "3 million U.S. homes will be repossessed by lenders this year as high unemployment and depressed home values leave borrowers unable to make their house payment or sell".

“This will be the peak year, and the main reasons are unemployment and house prices that have stabilized way below mortgage amounts,” Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the University of California’s Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics in Berkeley, said in an interview.

“The government doesn’t have their act together on housing,” Rosen said. “They seem to be pussy-footing around. We need a much more robust effort.”