by Calculated Risk on 4/07/2010 09:42:00 PM

Irvine Renter at the Irvine Housing Blog writes: Bank of America to Increase Foreclosure Rate by 600% in 2010

[Irvine Renter] attended a local Building Industry Association conference on Friday 26 March 2010. The west coast manager of real estate owned, Senior Vice President Ken Gaitan, stated that Bank of America, which currently forecloses on 7,500 homes a month nationally, will increase that number to 45,000 homes per month by December of 2010.

After his surprising statement, two questioners from the audience asked questions to verify the numbers.

Bank of America is projecting a 600% increase in its already large number of monthly foreclosures.

This isn't unsubstantiated rumor; this comes straight from one of the most powerful men in Bank of America's OREO department (yes, that really is what they call it). It appears they have too many properties already.

CR Note: I tried to verify these numbers with BofA without success. Irvine Renter clarified this for me today. Apparently Gaitan said that Bank of America anticipates the peak of foreclosure activity will occur in December 2010 and will top out at 45,000 units that month. Apparently BofA believes foreclosure activity will trend down in 2011. According to Irvine Renter, Gaitan said BofA expects about 300,000 total foreclosures in 2010. That is a significant increase from the current 7,500 per month pace.

Once again, BofA's media department told me they'd get back to me - but no word so far - so there numbers have not been verified.

CR note: OREO stands for "Other Real Estate Owned"