Foreclosures rise for many parts of the country

07.31.09
By Lewis Green

New figures released this week show that homeowners in areas of the country that saw the biggest increase in home sales during the housing boom are finding it difficult to stop foreclosure.

The Midyear 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report from RealtyTrac finds that cities in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada are seeing the highest rates of foreclosure in the nation during the first half of this year.

Of the 203 metropolitan areas listed on the report, Las Vegas ranks highest in foreclosure rate with one out of every 13 properties in the city receiving a foreclosure filing in the first half of the year - a 56 percent year-to-year increase.

While Michigan has been hard hit during the economic downturn, it appears that foreclosures in some areas of the state are declining.

Although Detroit still ranks 38th on the RealtyTrac list, the city had a 16 percent drop in foreclosures over the last year while Flint, Michigan saw foreclosures fall 17 percent.

However, James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, seemed to indicate that some of the declines may be due to an overload of foreclosures in recent years.

"While some of the markets that had the highest saturation of foreclosures over the past few years have seen declining rates, new markets like Provo, Utah, and Boise, Idaho, have seen large increases," he said. "As unemployment rates increase in different parts of the country, it's very likely that we'll see similar patterns develop elsewhere."

The news from RealtyTrac comes just days after the Mortgage Bankers Association said applications for home loans decreased by 6.3 percent last week. The applications of new home loans was not the only segment to suffer as the MBA said refinances fell 10.9 percent over the same span.

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More Americans appear to be facing foreclosure