Loan Modification

Cities in the Sunbelt see the most foreclosure activity in 1Q 2009

By Jay Hammond

?The metro areas with the highest levels of foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2009 paint a picture of concentrated problems in a relative small number of hard hit areas,? explains James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties. ?Sales activity appears to be increasing in some of these markets as home prices have fallen to levels that are attractive to first-time homebuyers and investors. While we expect many of these metro areas to continue to experience high levels of foreclosure activity through 2009, we also expect to see other markets rise up the ranks as unemployment rates surge throughout the country.?

Las Vegas, NV topped the list with one in every 22 units of 4.48 percent of all housing units receiving some type of foreclosure filing during the first quarter. That rate is seven times the national average. As previously reported, it is also worse that the average for the state of Nevada where one of every 27 housing units received a foreclosure filing. More than 35,000 housing units in the Las Vegas ? Paradise metropolitan area received a foreclosure filing during the first three months of 2009, up nearly 19 percent from the previous quarter and up 103.93 percent from the same quarter in 2008.  The greater Las Vegas area accounted for 85.5 percent of all foreclosure filing in Nevada despite the fact that the estimated population of Clark county, which includes Las Vegas, represents just over 71 percent of the total estimated population of the state. The Reno ? Sparks metro area in Nevada was also among the 26 cities seeing the most foreclosure activity during the first quarter with 3,837 housing units receiving some type of foreclosure filing. This was an increase of of more than 30 percent over the previous quarter and a 132.69 percent rise over the same quarter in 2008 earning Reno ? Sparks the number 12 spot on the RealtyTrac list.

Along with Las Vegas, cities in Arizona (2), California (13), Florida (9) and Nevada (2) saw the most foreclosure activity. The other metro areas in the top ten include (in order) Merced, CA; Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, FL; Stockton, CA; Riverside-San Bernadino-Ontario, CA; Modesto, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Vallejo-Fairfield, CA; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ and Port St. Lucie, FL. Thirty cities experienced a foreclosure activity increase of more than 100 percent over the first quarter of 2008. Foreclosure activity increased by more than 100 percent from the previous quarter (4Q 2008) in nine metropolitan areas.

Not all of the cities on RealtyTrac list saw an increase in foreclosure activity. Metropolitan areas in Arkansas (2), Colorado (3), Connecticut (3), Indiana (2), Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts (4), Michigan (3), Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York (3), North Carolina (6), Ohio (5), Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee (2), Texas, Washington (3) and Washington D.C. saw foreclosure activity during the first quarter of 2009 decline compared to both the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2008. Cities in Colorado, Georgia (6), Illinois (2), Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York (2), North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee,Texas (6),  and Washington saw decreased foreclosure filings compared to the first quarter of 2008.

The full list of all 203 metropolitan areas can be found at: www.realtytrac.com.

Full post as published by Blown Mortgage on April 22, 2009 (boomark / email).