There are an increasing number of homeowners that are falling behind on their mortgage payments. The number of homeowners that either missed a payment or have fallen into foreclosure has soared in the first quarter of this year. Real estate market has some good news, but mostly bad as the foreclosure crisis continues to be a major problem.

Sales of new homes rose in April, but the amount of new homes sold in March was much lower than originally reported. With unemployment rates going up, it seems increasingly difficult to sell new and foreclosed homes as well as homeowners paying consistently on their loans. The first time unemployment rate claims went down for the second week in a row, but the increasing number of unemployed receiving benefits sets record highs.

Gas continues to go up as well. The demand is going up which leads the gas prices to start rising again. However, it is said that with such a low demand that has occurred they also had to raise prices in order to make a profit. Opec is sticking to its current load of production level which is pushing a barrel of oil above $65. This is the first time this has occurred since last year.

Wall Street stocks have gone higher for the second week in a row. In the national market, stocks went down for the first time in four sessions. If stocks were to continue to go down this could make it difficult for lenders to continue to lend which would again effect potential home buyers and the unemployment rate for the worst.