Foreclosure Rates Fall Again

By:
Kirk Haverkamp | December 10, 2009

U.S. foreclosure activity fell for the fourth consecutive month in November but is still expected to set an all-time high for the year, according to new information from the foreclosure data firm RealtyTrac.

Total foreclosure activity was down by 8 percent in November, with filings reported on 306,627 U.S. properties. That’s down 15 percent from the all-time high registered in July, but remains 18 percent above the rate posted in November 2008.
 
Meanwhile, the company predicted that total number of U.S. foreclosure filings this year will hit 3.9 million, exceeding 2008’s record of 3.2 million, according to Bloomberg News.
 
“November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we’ve seen since February,” said James Saccacio, RealtyTrac CEO. “Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home value depreciation. This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.”
 
The dwindling foreclosure rate, along with increasing home sales and stabilizing prices, is among several encouraging signs for the housing market and the economy in general that have emerged in recent months. However, there remain strong concerns that a new wave of foreclosures, driven by high unemployment and temporarily forestalled by state-imposed moratoriums, could send the market back down in 2010.
 

Vegas drops out of top spot

 
Foreclosure notices were filed on one in every 417 U.S. homes in November, a rate of 0.24 percent. Nevada continued to have the nation’s worst foreclosure rate despite seeing foreclosure filings drop for the second consecutive month, to a rate of one in every 119 homes. Las Vegas also dropped out of the top spot after four months as the metropolitan area with the nation’s worst foreclosure rate, dropping to number 5 after a 33 percent decrease in foreclosure activity.
 
Florida and California switched spots as the states with the nation’s second and third-worst foreclosure rates, with Florida moving up to number two. Arizona continued to hold down the number four spot, with foreclosure filings rising again after three straight months of declines.
 
Merced, California took over the top spot as the metropolitan area with the nation’s worst foreclosure rate, with filings on one home in 83, up 21 percent from October. Stockton and Modesto held the second and third spots.
 
Vermont had the nation’s lowest foreclosure rate in November, with only 16 filings for a rate of one in 19,465.
 
The RealtyTrac survey counts foreclosure filings at three stages of the foreclosure process – notices of default, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions. As a result, the same property may show up as separate filings over several months.
 

 

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