Colorado ranks No. 12 for foreclosures in May

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Colorado foreclosure activity in May took a breather in May.

Colorado’s foreclosure rate was No. 12 in the nation last month, with foreclosure activity falling 24.1 percent from April and 0.68 percent from May 2009, shows a report by RealtyTrac, a company based in Irvine, Calif., which tracks and markets foreclosure data.

Colorado showed a much bigger drop than the national average, which overall booked a 3.3 percent drop from April and showed a 0.45 percent increase from May.

The last time this year that Colorado was ranked No. 12 was in January. In February it had the 11th highest foreclosure rate in the nation and it was No. 10 in March and April, according to RealtyTrac.

In Colorado, one out of every 444 households was in some stage of foreclosure in May, compared with the national average of one out of every 400 households. There were a total of 4,843 homes in some stage of foreclosure last month, which represents about 1.5 percent of the 322,920 homes nationwide in some state of foreclosure, ranging from the initial notice to REO – Real Estate Owned, which is when the bank takes the home back following the foreclosure sale.

California, Arizona and Florida suffering much more

“The trends here more or less reflect what we’re seeing in Colorado,” said Ryan McMaken, of the Colorado Division of Housing, which tracks foreclosure activity in the Denver area and the state, using a different methodology than RealtyTrac.

“The preliminary state data for May indicates that May foreclosure totals in filings are down compared to last month, and compared to May of last year, McMaken said. “Completed foreclosures will likely prove to be generally flat compared with May of last year.”

He said that Colorado “more often that not,” has been below the national foreclosure rate in recent months. He noted that the Mortgage Bankers Association data, for example, has been showing Colorado in the bottom half of the states for new foreclosure activity.

“It’s noteworthy that the foreclosure rates in California, Arizona and Florida, are more than twice as bad as the foreclosure rate in Colorado, so Colorado certainly shouldn’t be lumped in with these states anymore when it comes to foreclosure activity,” McMaken said.

On a national basis, May “continued and confirmed” a trend of the leveling off of foreclosure activity as “lenders work through the backlog of distressed properties that have built up over the past 20 months,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Defaults and scheduled auctions combined increased by 28 percent from 2007 to 2008 and another 32 percent from 2008 to 2009 — creating a build-up of delayed bank repossessions. Lenders appear to be ramping up the pace of completing those forestalled foreclosures even while the inflow of delinquencies into the foreclosure process has slowed.”