Foreclosure Rates Slow In First Half of 2011

July 28, 2011 (Chris Moore)

Foreclosure rates decreased on a year-over-year basis in the first half of 2011 according to RealtyTrac’s Midyear 2011 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report with 84 percent of the metropolitan areas posting improved foreclosure rates.

Cities in California, Nevada, and Arizona accounted for the top 10 foreclosure rates and 15 out of the top 20. All top 10 metro areas did, however, post decreasing foreclosure rates compared to the first half of 2010.

Unfortunately, the decrease in foreclosure activity was not attributed to an improvement in the housing market, but because of continued delays in the foreclosure process due to paperwork problems.

“Foreclosure activity continued to slow in the first half of 2011, especially in the most foreclosure-saturated markets and in markets where the judicial foreclosure process is used,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The 20 metro areas with the biggest year-over-year decreases in foreclosure activity were all in states with judicial foreclosure processes — New York, Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois.

“These dramatic decreases indicate the foreclosure pipeline continues to be clogged in many local markets across the country, sometimes by a glut of already-foreclosed properties that are not selling quickly, sometimes by a mountain of improperly filed foreclosures that are blocking the inflow of new foreclosure filings — and sometimes by both.”

The Las Vegas-Paradise metro area continued to post the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in the first half of 2011, with one in every 19 housing units (5.36%) receiving a foreclosure filing, followed by the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (3.51%) at No. 2; Modesto at No. 3 (3.32%); Stockton at No. 4 (3.24%); Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 5 (3.21%); Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 6 (3.09%); Reno Sparks at No. 7 (2.96%); Bakersfield at No. 8 (2.78%); Merced at No. 9 (2.78%); and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at No. 10 (2.53%).

Out of the nation’s 20 most populated areas, only Seattle posted an increase in foreclosure activity in the first half of 2010 of 10 percent. That earned Seattle the biggest jump out of the 211 metro areas in the rankings, jumping from No. 97 to No. 57.

Baltimore had the biggest drop in the ratings among the nation’s 20 largest metro areas with a 74 percent drop in foreclosure activity. Baltimore’s ranking went from No. 83 to No. 182.

Foreclosure activity declined on a year-over-year basis in 178 out of the 211 metropolitan areas with a population over 200,000 or more in the first half of 2011.

Top 20 Metro Foreclosure Rates — 2011 Midyear

Rate Rank	Metro Name	Properties with Filings	%HU	1/every X HU	%Chg from Jul-Dec 10	%Chg from Jan-Jun 10	Rate Rank Jan-Jun 10
--	U.S. Total	1,170,402	0.90	111	-25.49	-29.27
1	Las Vegas-Paradise, NV	43,944	5.36	19	-18.10	-17.90	1
2	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale,AZ	60,985	3.51	28	-8.41	-16.86	7
3	Modesto,CA	5,824	3.32	30	-20.90	-27.51	3
4	Stockton,CA	7,422	3.24	31	-18.21	-25.77	6
5	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	46,959	3.21	31	-16.19	-26.30	5
6	Vallejo-Fairfield,CA	4,655	3.09	32	-14.60	-20.90	9
7	Reno-Sparks,NV	5,413	2.96	34	-14.54	-20.44	11
8	Bakersfield,CA	7,633	2.78	36	-20.65	-23.75	12
9	Merced,CA	2,334	2.78	36	-26.35	-37.63	4
10	Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville,CA	21,721	2.53	39	-17.39	-20.36	14
11	Fresno,CA	7,431	2.40	42	-8.87	-10.80	21
12	CapeCoral-FortMyers, FL	8,699	2.38	42	-44.35	-52.15	2
13	Prescott,AZ	2,475	2.32	43	2.53	-8.60	27
14	Visalia-Porterville,CA	3,199	2.30	43	-14.51	-14.72	19
15	Boise City-Nampa, ID	5,336	2.20	45	-20.43	-16.88	22
16	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA	44,160	2.04	49	-18.02	-15.69	30
17	Greeley,CO	1,925	2.04	49	-28.25	-17.52	29
18	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	5,192	1.89	53	-13.02	-16.85	32
19	Tucson,AZ	7,939	1.85	54	1.44	-5.16	39
20	Salt Lake City,UT	7,417	1.85	54	-17.30	-10.38	36

Tags: RealtyTrac, Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosure rates, metropolitan areas, foreclosure activity, housing market, paperwork problems

Source:
RealtyTrac