A new landscape is emerging in many cities. Open space is replacing the growing number of vacant homes.

The trend results from the proliferation of recession-fueled foreclosures and dropping home values. About a quarter of all mortgage holders are now "underwater" — they owe more than their home is worth. Many of these owners simply "walk away" from their homes.

All those vacant houses cause a huge problem in their communities. They are prime targets for looters, and their obvious disrepair drags down the value of all other homes in the neighborhood.

In a growing number of cases, community leaders are taking drastic action. They are demolishing problem vacant houses. The demolition cost, typically ranging from $15,000 to $20,000, is a viable option to eliminate the problem, many leaders have determined.

One particularly notable case is in Cleveland, Ohio, as documented in a recent "60 Minutes" CBS program. Here, county officials demolished more than 1,000 homes over the past year and plan to demolish 20,000 more, rather than let the blight spread and render nearby homes worthless.

"Perfectly good homes are being ripped to splinters in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio," the CBS program reported. "Here, the great recession left one-fifth of all houses vacant.

"The owners walked away because they couldn't or wouldn't keep paying on a mortgage debt that can be twice the value of the home. Cleveland waited four years for home values to recover and now they've decided to face facts and bury the dead."

Jim Rokakis, a former county treasurer and key leader in the decision to demolish vacant houses in Cleveland, made this comment: "We're looking at neighborhoods that have almost as many vacant houses awaiting demolition as there are houses with people living in them. We have one here. One here. One here. One there."

It's a sad scenario. Only those people who have long promoted for more open space are happy with it.

Q: Are mortgages becoming even more affordable?

A: Definitely. In fact, at this writing, they are more affordable than ever.

According to Freddie Mac's nationwide survey, the 30-year fixed rate matches its average all-time record low of 3.94 percent, while the 15-year rate sank to a new low of 3.21 percent. The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage also set a new all-time low at 2.86 percent. Rates are lowest in the West.

Q: Will the housing market stabilize in coming months?

A: According to one credible report, the housing market may be stabilizing now as house prices and REO saturation rates show little change on a quarterly and yearly basis, according to Clear Capital's most recent Home Data Index.

"Nationally, prices rose just 0.3 percent while the REO (bank-owned homes) saturation rate was relatively unchanged at 24.6 percent over the most recent quarter, according to data through the end of November," the report stated.

Q: Does the practice of "flipping" contribute to our housing problems?

A: Increasingly, housing and government leaders are recognizing the negative impact of house flipping on the housing market. Flipping is when investors buy bargain-priced homes and quickly resell them at a higher price, thus generating a profit for themselves.

A new report from the Federal Reserve examined the sharp run-up and subsequent collapse in housing prices during the 2000s. The report concludes that real estate investors who used mortgage credit to purchase multiple properties played a larger role in fueling the housing bubble than previously recognized, pushing prices up during the boom and then defaulting in large numbers when prices began to head south.

Q: Are home values still falling?

A: Yes, but at a very slow rate nationally. Home values continued their decline in October, falling 0.3 percent from September, according to Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. However, the rate of monthly depreciation has stabilized as the housing market heads toward the bottom.

On a year-over-year basis, home values declined 5.1 percent to an average of $147,900. Home values have fallen 23.7 percent since their peak in May 2007.

Only 10 metro areas saw home value appreciation on a yearly basis with seven of those metros also having monthly appreciation, according to Zillow.

"As expected, home values continue to fall in the back half of this year due to an abundance of housing supply relative to demand. Potential buyers remain on the sidelines or doubled up in other households, despite record-high housing affordability and historically low mortgage rates," said Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow chief economist.

To find out more about Jim Woodard and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.