John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... The Denver-Aurora metropolitan statistical area ranked No. 46 out of 203 markets – big and small – tracked by RealtyTrac, the Irvine, Calif.-based company that collects foreclosure data, nationwide.
One out of every 36 households in the Denver area received some kind of foreclosure notice last year, according to RealtyTrac’s Year-End 2009 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report released today. That compares to one out of 45 households nationally.
While foreclosures across the U.S. were up 21.2 percent from, they were down about 12 percent in the Denver area, according to RealyTrac.
The Greeley area was ranked No. 29, with one out of 24 households receiving a foreclosure notice, up 6.5 percent from 2008. Colorado Springs was No. 50, with one of 39 households in foreclosure, an 11 percent increase from 2008. Fort Collins-Loveland was No. 70, with one out of 50 households in foreclosure, 19.7% higher than in 2008, and Boulder was ranked 115th, with one out 77 households in foreclosure, a 28 percent jump from 2008.
Ryan McMaken, of the Colorado Division of Housing, who plans to release his own statewide-foreclosure report next Thursday, today said the RealtyTrac numbers seem to capture what is happening in Colorado. However, he said because of RealtyTrac’s methodology of combining all foreclosure actions and treating them as one number, its data will differ for his. McMaken tracks initial filings and public trustee sales, separately, for example, while RealtyTrac combines them, along with REOs, which are homes taken back by banks.
“In much of Colorado – especially in the Denver area – foreclosure activity peaked a couple of years ago, while now other parts of the country foreclosure rates are growing,” McMaken said. “The general trend of their report seems accurate. Of course, our reports will differ as far as actual numbers.”
Nationwide, the report shows that cities in four Sun Belt states accounted for all top 20 foreclosure rates in 2009 among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more, but foreclosure activity showed signs of spreading into previously insulated areas asunemployment became more of a driving factor.
California accounted for nine of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates, followed by Florida with eight, Nevada with two and Arizona with one. The highest-ranked metro area outside of those four states was in Boise City-Nampa, Idaho, which ranked No. 24 with 4.66 percent of its housing units receiving at least one foreclosure notice in 2009.
“While it was expected that cities from states with the highest levels of foreclosure activity would top the charts, there is evidence that we’re entering a new wave of foreclosures, driven more by unemployment and economic hardship than what we’ve seen over the past few years,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Areas like Provo, Utah,Fayetteville, Ark., Portland, Ore., and Rockford, Ill., all posted foreclosure rates above the U.S. average in 2009. And markets like Honolulu, Minneapolis and Seattle saw foreclosure activity increase at more than twice the national pace over the past 12 months — although all three of those markets still had 2009 foreclosure rates that were at or below the U.S. average.”
Las Vegas posted the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate for the year, with more than 12 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009 — more than five times the national average. Las Vegas reported a quarter-over-quarter decline in foreclosure activity in the fourth quarter — as did all the other metro areas with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 for 2009.
With 11.87 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., documented the second highest metro foreclosure rate. Other Florida cities in the top 10 were Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 7 (8.17 percent), Port St. Lucie at No. 9 (7.58percent), and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach at No. 10 (7.16 percent).Merced, Calif., registered the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, with more than 10 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009. Other California cities in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 4 (8.80 percent), Stockton at No. 5 (8.62 percent), and Modesto at No. 6 (8.53 percent).
The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metro area in Arizona documented the nation’s eighth highest metro foreclosure rate in 2009, with more than 8 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice during the year.
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.
