John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... Foreclosure filings in Colorado topped 12,000 during the second quarter, shows a state report released today. Both new foreclosure filings and completed foreclosures grew 15 percent above first quarter totals, according to the report by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Division of Housing.
New foreclosure filings reached 12,135 during the second quarter for a mid-year total of 22,644, the division reported. Completed foreclosures during the second quarter reached 4,999, for a mid-year total of 9,353.
During 2008, there were 39,333 total foreclosure filings and 21,301 total completed foreclosures.
While the second quarter showed renewed growth in foreclosure activity when compared to the first quarter, year-over-year comparisons showed more mixed results. When comparing the first half of 2009 to the same period last year, foreclosure filings increased 0.3 percent while sales fell 5 percent. Not all properties that begin the foreclosure process end up being sold at auctions by county public trustee offices. A number of them will end up as short sales, for example, in which the lender accepts less than than the mortgage amount.
“Completed foreclosures are showing restrained growth,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesperson with the Division of Housing. “Although new filings are showing a bit of growth in some areas, we don’t expect substantial growth in completed foreclosures this year as compared to last year. That may be due to the fact that so many foreclosure prevention initiatives like the Foreclosure Hotline have really expanded services in recent years.”
Adams, Arapahoe, and Denver Counties all experienced significant declines in total numbers of completed foreclosures. Denver’s completed foreclosure totals fell 30 percent while Adams County and Arapahoe County fell 19 percent and 16 percent respectively.
The largest increases were found in counties outside of metro Denver.
For the first half of the year, El Paso County reported an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year, while Mesa County reported an increase of 143 percent. Pueblo County and Weld County, which have been among counties with the highest foreclosure rates in recent years, reported slight declines in completed foreclosures of 2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.
As reported earlier by InsideRealEstateNews.com, public officials, as well as real estate experts, had expected an increase in foreclosure activity in the second quarter from the first quarter.
Many lenders and investors had enacted both formal and informal moratoria on foreclosures which slowed down the foreclosure process for many. As these moratoria were phased out, officials expected to see an increase in the number of new foreclosures. However, while new foreclosure filings are showing notable growth, the number of completed foreclosures has still not returned to the levels experienced during 2007 and 2008.
New foreclosure filings, which begin the foreclosure process, increased for the third time in three quarters as foreclosure filings climbed 15 percent to 12,135 from the first quarter’s total of 10,509.Completed foreclosures increased for the first time in three quarters as foreclosure sales climbed 15 percent to 4,999 from the first quarter’s total of 4,354. Quarterly totals of 6,000 to 7,000 were common during 2007 and 2008.
Foreclosure rates also vary considerably from county to county. The highest rate in a metropolitan county was found in Adams County where there was 1 completed foreclosure for every 117 households. In Weld County, there was 1 for every 120 households, and 1 for every 169 households in Denver County.
The latest data reinforces past claims that high foreclosure rates are somewhat restricted to the Front Range and eastern Colorado. Counties in western Colorado experienced much lower foreclosure rates. Mesa County reported 1 completed foreclosure for every 544 households and Garfield County reported 1 for every 1,451 households.
The Colorado Division of Housing is a division of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs and collects foreclosure data from Public Trustees on a quarterly basis. The report, and past foreclosure reports, can be accessed online at the Colorado Division of Housing Web Site at http://dola.colorado.gov/cdh/.
[...] in Colorado could hit or exceed 40,000 filings this year, officials said today, following a report that tracked more than 12,000 foreclosure filings in the second [...]