Despite recent signs of economic recovery, the mortgage crisis has proved to be one that has refused to go away despite valiant efforts of government bailouts, incentive programs and rate adjustments. In fact, with RealtyTrac projecting the foreclosure number for 2011 to be over 1 million for the second year in a row, it looks like the problem is likely to worsen before it gets better, especially in light of the government's failing "relief programs."

At the top of the foreclosure list is female homeowners -- in a market where the number of women buying homes in the past decade has doubled and, in a recent poll, shown on average to control approximately 75% of the family finances.

The housing market got a bit of bad news Monday morning, with pending home sales falling faster than expected in January.

Consumer confidence has been on the rise over the past couple of months, but that boost in confidence did not carry over to pending home sales, which were down 2.8% during the month of January.

Is the glass half full of half empty? This is a perennial debate.

Those who are bearish say the market has gone too far to the upside; investors are shrugging off the latest debt scare in Europe; we have rising global interest rates; there's a potential meltdown in the municipal bond market; earnings may disappoint; the VIX is too low; and on and on we go.

For the bulls, the S&P 500 has traded above its 50-day moving average for 94 consecutive sessions, according to Birinyi Associates. This is the first time this has happened in five years. Many analysts consider stock valuations to be at relatively low levels. The glass for them is still half full.

This not good news. Market researcher Zillow, which tracks home prices, reported that prices dropped 5.1% in November 2010, the 53rd straight month of declines. Zillow does not include foreclosures in its data, according to CNNMoney.

Zillow forecasts that home prices will continue falling into the second half of this year. According to Zillow, "The bottom will be very long and rocky."

Another research company, CoreLogic, which also tracks the home market, reported that home prices declined in 44 states, up from 18 in June.

With mortgage refinancing applications up recently and house prices on the rise in recent months, some might believe there is reason to be optimistic about the struggling housing sector. I don't subscribe to this belief. Instead, I look for delinquencies and foreclosures to spike in the slow economic growth, high unemployment quarters that probably lie ahead.

Already, real estate owned (REO) by lenders due to foreclosures -- perhaps the most hated term among bankers -- is climbing. Estimates are that a major share of the 7 million houses that have delinquent mortgages or are in some stage of foreclosure, as well as those yet to come, will be dumped on the market, adding to the already huge excessive inventory glut. Some 4.5 million loans are now in foreclosure or at least 90 days delinquent.

With the nation's housing market continuing to struggle, interest rates have continued to fall, and this week they fell even more. According to a report today, interest rates fell to the their lowest level on record since Freddie Mac started tracking them back in 1971.

The Federal Reserve is doing everything it can to get buyers interested in coming back to the housing market, but it has just not been happening yet. Any hopes that the housing market was turning the corner were negated with news that third quarter sales were 21% lower than the same period last year.

Will home prices keep falling? The answer is yes. But why this is happening? The reason lies in high unemployment and the increased number of foreclosures.

Here are some analysts' views on the market, as reported by CNNMoney:

• Fiserv, a market analytics company, had forecast price gains of 4% in February. Their latest prediction is for a 7.1% drop in prices.

Imagine, if you would, that you lost your home to foreclosure, but you later learned that the entity that seized your property likely had no right to take it. It sounds unbelievable, right? Well, a recently initiated investigation involving GMAC indicates that may be exactly what has happened in tens of thousands of foreclosure cases across the country.

The investigation, undertaken by the Florida Attorney General, is examining three law firms for allegedly providing fraudulent affidavits that identify who holds the original mortgage note in foreclosure cases. According to a report from NPR, this action has caused GMAC to suspend pending eviction and foreclosure activities.

It has been a long time since a state other than Michigan had the honor of claiming the highest unemployment rate in country. The May unemployment numbers show that it is Nevada, not Michigan, that now has the highest rate of unemployment.

Michigan has held the title for highest unemployment since April 2006, when the automotive industry took a nose dive. But Nevada jumped into the lead by posting a 14% unemployment rate in May. In comparison, Michigan's unemployment level is currently sitting at 13.6%.

After a harsh winter, new home construction is on the rise. These numbers are particularly encouraging: New home construction rose 20% in March over a year ago. Permits were up 34% over a year ago.

The Commerce Department reported that housing starts rose to an annual rate of 626,000 last month, up from February's revised 616,000. There is a push on to complete some of these houses before the first-time home buyer credit expires in June.

According to a Wall Street Journal article Monday, the U.S. Treasury is considering new guidelines for mortgage lenders to follow. Reportedly, these guidelines will give troubled borrowers more time to qualify for the federal program that is aimed at avoiding foreclosures. The proposals make loan-servicing companies that collect payments and handle foreclosures to give borrowers 30 days in order to respond after they are denied a modification of the terms of their loan. During the 30-day period borrowers could appeal the decision and the loan-servicing companies could not put the home on a foreclosure auction.

Over the past couple of years, one of the most troubling aspects of the economy has been the ailing housing market, and in particular the large volumes of homes that have fallen victim to the foreclosure crisis. Finally we get some evidence that things may be moving in the right direction again.

While no one will argue that we are out of the woods just yet, it does appear as things are at least starting to recovery slightly.

U.S. foreclosure filings rose 15% in January to over 300,000. This is the eleventh straight month that foreclosures have passed 300,000.

Here is the situation:

• 315,716 properties received a notice of default, one in every 409 households.
• Bank seizures may rise to 3 million this year, according to Realty Trac.

Has the housing market hit bottom? According to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, the answer is no. Zillow does predict the bottom will come in the second half of 2010.

There are a host of complex factors weighing on the market. Among them are:

• More than one-fifth (21.4%) of American single family home mortgages are "under water." That means that the homeowner owes more on the mortgage than the house is worth.

Foreclosure filings spiked in December. The 14% increase from the previous month made the first monthly increase since July -- and a hell of a severe way to break the streak. The double-digit increase, reported by RealtyTrac, brought the number of foreclosures to 349,519 in December. In addition to the increase from November, the result is a year-over-year increase of 15% from December 2008. In 2009, 2.8 million foreclosures were filed, up 21% from 2008 and 120% from 2007.

Foreclosure activity reached a monthly high of 361,000 in July, but loan modifications, state legislation extending the foreclosure process and the volume of homes in the foreclosure pipeline had resulted in a gradual decline from that point. From the third quarter to the fourth, foreclosures fell 7%, though the rate was still up 18% from the fourth quarter of 2008. California posted a 17% decline in foreclosures quarter-over-quarter, though it increased 9% from November to December.