Posted by Foreclosures up in SWFL 31% from last month
By
WINK News
By
Associated Press
Story Created:
Mar 11, 2010 at 5:36 AM EST
Story Updated:
Mar 11, 2010 at 5:36 AM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) – The foreclosure crisis isn’t over, but the pace of growth may finally be slowing down.
RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. households
facing foreclosure in February grew 6 percent from the year-ago
level, the smallest annual increase in four years.
More than 308,000 households, or one in every 418 homes, received a foreclosure-related notice, the Irvine, Calif.-based foreclosure listings company reported. That was down more than 2 percent from January
Still, fears remain about the hundreds of thousands of
homeowners who are still being evaluated for help under loan
modification programs. Many analysts say most of those borrowers
will eventually lose their homes, sparking a new round of
foreclosures later this year.
“It’s premature to declare victory just yet,” said Rick
Sharga, a RealtyTrac senior vice president for RealtyTrac. He did,
however, allow that, “If this is the beginning of a slowdown in
growth rates, that would be a good thing.”
Banks repossessed nearly 79,000 homes last month, down 10
percent from January but still up 6 percent from February 2009.
The RealtyTrac report follows an encouraging report last month
from the Mortgage Bankers Association. It said the percentage of
borrowers who had missed just one payment on their home loans fell
to 3.6 percent in the October to December quarter, down from 3.8
percent in the third quarter.
While that was a surprising piece of positive news, foreclosures
were still at record high levels. The number of borrowers who have
either missed a payment or are in foreclosure was at 15 percent.
A record 2.8 million households were threatened with foreclosure
last year, RealtyTrac said, and the number is expected to rise to more than 3 million homes this year.
The foreclosure crisis forced the federal government and several
states to come up with plans to prolong the process so delinquent
borrowers can try to find help. But those efforts have barely
dented the problem. Case in point: The obama administration’s $75
billion foreclosure prevention program has helped only 116,300
homeowners in the past year.
Foreclosed homes are typically sold at steep discounts, lowering
the value of surrounding properties. Cities lose property tax
dollars from homes that sit empty and lower property values.
Economic woes, such as unemployment or reduced income, are
expected to be the main catalysts for foreclosures this year.
Initially, lax lending standards were the culprit, but homeowners
with good credit who took out conventional, fixed-rate loans are
the fastest growing group of foreclosures.
Among states, Nevada posted the nation’s highest foreclosure
rate, though foreclosures there were down 7 percent from January
and down more than 30 percent from a year earlier. It was followed
by Arizona, Florida, California and Michigan. Rounding out the top
10 were Utah, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia and Maryland.
The metro area with the highest foreclosure rate in February was
Las Vegas. Though one in every 90 homes there received a
foreclosure filing, foreclosures were down 9 percent from a month
earlier. Foreclosures in the No. 2. metropolitan area, the Cape
Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida, were up 31 percent from a month
earlier.
Also topping the list of foreclosure hot spots were the
California metro areas of Modesto, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
and Stockton.
