WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is the text of RealtyTrac’s Q3
Metropolitan Foreclosure Market report published Thursday:
RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for
foreclosure properties, today released its Q3 2012 Metropolitan
Foreclosure Market Report, which shows third quarter foreclosure
activity decreased from a year ago in 131 out of the nation’s 212 (62
percent) metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more. Third
quarter foreclosure activity decreased from the previous quarter in 134
of the metro areas tracked in the report (63 percent).
Foreclosure activity decreased annually in 12 out of the nation’s
20 largest metro areas, led by San Francisco (36 percent), Detroit (31
percent), Los Angeles (29 percent), Phoenix (27 percent) and San Diego
(26 percent).
The biggest annual increases in foreclosure activity among the
nation’s 20 largest metro areas were in New York (69 percent), Tampa (43
percent), Philadelphia (34 percent), Chicago (34 percent), and Seattle
(20 percent).
“Two-thirds of the nation’s largest metros posted decreases in
foreclosure activity in the third quarter, indicating that most of the
nation’s housing markets are past the worst of the foreclosure problem”
said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “In fact foreclosure
activity in September 2012 was below September 2007 levels in 58 percent
of the metro markets we track.
“Still, rebounding foreclosure activity in some markets remains a
threat to home price stability and growth in those markets,” Blomquist
continued. “The rebounding foreclosure activity tends to be in markets
where the foreclosure process slowed down most dramatically in the last
two years, resulting in a buildup of foreclosures in limbo that lenders
are finally working through this year.
Top 20 metro foreclosure rates
Despite a 21 percent annual decline in foreclosure activity,
Stockton, Calif., documented the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate
in the third quarter – one in every 67 housing units with a foreclosure
filing, more than three times the national average.
California cities – including Stockton- accounted for the seven
highest metro foreclosure rates in the nation during the third quarter,
although foreclosure activity decreased from a year ago in all seven
metros.
Foreclosure activity increased from a year ago in all three
remaining metros among the top 10: Rockford, Ill., at No. 8 (53 percent
increase), Chicago at No. 9 (34 percent increase), and Miami at No. 10
(11 percent increase).
Including Miami, seven Florida cities ranked among the top 20 metro
foreclosure rates in the third quarter. Six out of the seven Florida
metros in the top 20 posted annual increases in foreclosure activity.
Ocala was the only exception at No. 20 (7 percent annual decrease).
California cities claimed two additional spots in the top 20:
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura at No. 17 and Fresno at No. 18. The other
two metros with foreclosure rates among the 20 highest nationwide were
Atlanta at No. 15 and Phoenix at No. 16.
Top foreclosure rates among largest metros
The Riverside-San Bernardino metro area in Southern California
registered the highest foreclosure rate among the nation’s 20 largest
metropolitan areas in the third quarter: one in every 73 housing units
with a foreclosure filing during the quarter – more than three times the
national average.
Five other metro areas among the nation’s 20 largest registered
foreclosure rates more than twice the national average: Chicago (one in
98 housing units), Miami (one in 100 housing units), Tampa (one in 106
housing units), Atlanta (one in 112 housing units), and Phoenix (one in
113 housing units).
** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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