John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... Colorado in 2010 was ranked No. 10 in the nation for its foreclosure rate, according to a RealtyTrac report released today.The report from the Irvine, Calif.-based company showed that last year there were 54.041 properties in Colorado in some stage of foreclosure. In addition, 2.51 percent of the state’s households were in some stage of foreclosure, compared to the national average of 2.23 percent. One out of every 40 households in Colorado was in foreclosure, compared with one out of every 45 for the nation.
Colorado up 7% from 2009
While by those metrics, Colorado was fairly close to overall foreclosures, as far as the year-over-year percentage increase, Colorado fared much worse. Foreclosures in Colorado rose by 6.98 percent in 2010 from 2009, while the nation’s foreclosure activity rose by only 1.67 percent. However, Colorado’s foreclosure activity rose by only 7.23 percent in 2010 from 2008, while the overall gain for the country was 23.23 percent in the time period.
Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado is putting together his own report for Colorado, which uses a different methodology than RealtyTrac. But based on his preliminary numbers, McMaken said his data reflects the same trends found in the RealtyTrac report. He said fourth-quarter activity is down from the third-quarter.
Robo-signing slow process
“New filings have continued to decline in recent months, but we also saw a drop in foreclosure sales for the quarter, which is at least partially driven by the slowdown in foreclosure processing put in place by some lenders in response to the robo-signing controversy,” McMaken said..”In spite of the end of the slowdown, it does not look like December totals for foreclosure sales bounced back. Instead, December’s sales numbers were relatively low compared to the first nine months of the year. This would help explain the drop from the third quarter to the fourth in RealtyTrac’s report.
McMaken notes that RealtyTrac combines sales and filings. “This may still reflect the current trend in the state of rising sales numbers coupled with declining filings numbers,” McMaken said. “According to my preliminary numbers, it looks like, for the full year, that filings dropped about 10 percent, compared year over year. At the same time, however, foreclosure sales rose by about 10 percent. New people entering foreclosure continues to drop, but sales are up, likely reflecting the increase in sales that is the result of a very large number of new filings during 2009.”
Nationally, RealtyTrac found more than 3.8 million total foreclosure filings, which include initial default notices, scheduled auctions and bank reposessions The filings were reported on a record 2.87 million properties, a 2 percent increase from 2009 and a 23 percent increase from 2008.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 799,064 U.S. properties in the fourth quarter, a 14 percent decrease from the previous quarter and an 8 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2009. The fourth quarter total was the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2008.
“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity — triggered primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation and procedures that prompted many major lenders to temporarily halt some foreclosure proceedings,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Even so, 2010 foreclosure activity still hit a record high for our report, and many of the foreclosure proceedings that were stopped in late 2010 — which we estimate may be as high as a quarter million — will likely be re-started and add to the numbers in early 2011.”
Nevada, Arizona, Florida top foreclosure rates
More than 9 percent of Nevada housing units (one in 11) received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, giving it the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the fourth consecutive year despite a 5 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from 2009. Nevada foreclosure activity in December increased 18 percent from the previous month and was up 14 percent from December 2009. Fourth quarter foreclosure activity in Nevada decreased nearly 7 percent from the previous quarter but increased 19 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009.
Arizona registered the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the second year in a row, with 5.73 percent of its housing units (one in 17) receiving at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, and Florida registered the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with 5.51 percent of its housing units (one in 18) receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year.
