Foreclosure Filings Rise For 50th Straight Month
Tough weather in many states as well as loan modification programs are believed to have held down foreclosure filings in February, according to the latest report by RealtyTrac?, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. Even so, foreclosure filings for the month included 308,524 default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions nationwide — a total that was down 2 percent from January but up 6 percent when compared with February 2009.
In fact, you would expect the January-to-February total to decline even if the weather was wonderful. Why? Because January has 31 days and February just 28 this year.
“The 6 percent year-over-year increase we saw in February was the smallest annual increase we’ve seen since January 2006, when we began calculating year-over-year increases, but it still marked the 50th consecutive month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity,– said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This leveling of the foreclosure trend is not necessarily evidence that fewer homeowners are in distress and at risk for foreclosure, but rather that foreclosure prevention programs, legislation and other processing delays are in effect capping monthly foreclosure activity — albeit at a historically high level that will likely continue for an extended period.
“In addition, severe winter weather appears to have temporarily slowed the processing of foreclosure records in some Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states.”
Six states account for more than 60 percent of national total
Foreclosure activity was concentrated in six states: Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California, Michigan and Utah. RealtyTrac says that 61 percent of the nation’s foreclosures were located in those states. Rounding out the top ten were Idaho, Illinois, Georgia and Maryland.
In terms of metro areas, RealtyTrac says that foreclosure trends have begun to change among the 10 regions with the highest foreclosure numbers:
“Metro areas in the Sun Belt states of Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona continued to dominate the top 10 highest foreclosure rates among metropolitan areas with
a population of 200,000 or more, but activity trends in these areas varied considerably.“The Las Vegas metro area documented the highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 90 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, despite a 9 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month.
“Six of the other metro areas in the top 10 — all in California or Arizona — also reported decreasing foreclosure activity from the previous month. The biggest monthly decrease among the top 10 was in the Phoenix metro area, where foreclosure activity dropped nearly 18 percent.
“In contrast, the two Florida metro areas in the top 10 both posted substantial monthly increases in foreclosure activity. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area saw a 31 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month, giving it the second highest metro foreclosure rate — one in every 92 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. An increase of nearly 66 percent in foreclosure activity from the previous month helped boost the foreclosure rate in Port St. Lucie to sixth highest.
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