Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


0

Steal the Pipes, Ditch the House

As metal prices soar and housing prices dives, thieves find value in copper

Share

(Newser) – Rising metal prices have rendered some foreclosed homes worth less than their plumbing, and thieves are stripping the vacant abodes of copper, aluminum, and brass to fuel a lucrative overseas trade. Several states have hardened penalties for metal theft, but skyrocketing nonferrous metals prices have thieves risking steel cages for copper pipes, reports Reuters.

Copper prices have increased five-fold over the past three years, and many scrap traders estimate more than 80% goes to feed the booming development in India and China. Meanwhile, the subprime mortgage crunch has left empty houses an easy mark: In Cleveland, some boarded-up houses are marked "No copper, only PVC" to deter would-be crooks.

Chinese migrant workers collect scrapped metals for recycling. Demand in China and India have driven the price of nonferrous metals skyward.
Chinese migrant workers collect scrapped metals for recycling. Demand in China and India have driven the price of nonferrous metals skyward.   (Getty Images (by Event))
The nationwide rash of home foreclosures has made vacant properties into easy marks for thieves of metal piping and wiring.
The nationwide rash of home foreclosures has made vacant properties into easy marks for thieves of metal piping and wiring.   (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
As housing prices fall and metal prices soar, some homes are becoming worth less than their copper pipes.
As housing prices fall and metal prices soar, some homes are becoming worth less than their copper pipes.   (KRT Photos)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
0 comments
VIEWING:
 
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

97 Stories

 Goldman Seizes Homes 
 as Securities Sour 




Just getting them to admit they hold your mortgage can be an ordeal

Nov 2, 09 8:21 AM CST
(Newser) - Imagine finding yourself in a foreclosure battle and discovering that your opponent isn't the obscure lender who wrote your insane mortgage, but the formidable Goldman Sachs. It seems that after years of buying subprime mortgages and packaging them into bonds, at a handsome profit, Goldman is now in the business... More »

MORE ABOUT:
housing market • Goldman Sachs • subprime mortgages • Henry Paulson • foreclosure • subprime crisis • mortgage defaults

Watchdog: Feds Need to Expand Foreclosure Plan

$50B plan proving ineffective as more mortgage holders lose their jobs

Oct 10, 09 5:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury's $50 billion loan-modification program is in danger of being swamped as the foreclosure crisis accelerates, the Congressional Oversight Panel said in a report yesterday. The Home Affordable Modification Program has met its target of 500,000 trial mortgage modifications started by November 1, but the watchdog warned that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
housing market • subprime mortgages • foreclosure • mortgage • subprime crisis • negative equity • Obama administration • TARP • mortgage modification • underwater mortgage • Home Affordable Modification Program

investigation

Mortgage Scammers Prey
on Strapped Homeowners

So-called rescue firms promise to negotiate lower rates, then take money and run

Sep 24, 09 7:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Mortgage brokers who made a mint during the housing boom setting up homeowners in toxic loans are now profiting from a different sort of shady deal. So-called foreclosure rescue firms are proliferating across the US, taking money upfront and promising to negotiate with homeowners’ banks for better interest rates. Instead,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
foreclosure • mortgage • scam • mortgage debt • homeowners • housing crisis • interest rates • Federal Trade Commission

97 Stories


Thieves target copper for quick score
Associated Press

Supply-demand disparity spurs copper prices, thieves
Charleston Daily Mail

Copper burglars break into building full of cops
Associated Press


US 
TwitterFollow @NewserUS on Twitter

 
foreclosure • black market • burglary • housing crisis • subprime crisis • copper • metal prices

from our news partners