Colorado’s foreclosure activity fell by 34.6 percent in July from July 2010, virtually the same as the nationwide drop, shows a report released today by RealtyTrac.
Colorado also ranked No. 12 of the states for its foreclosure rate, one one out of every 665 households in some state of foreclosure in July. That compared with the overall national rate of out of every 611 homes in some state of foreclosure, from the initial filing until the REO (real estate owned) when the lender obtains the home at a public trustee auction. The Colorado Division of Housing, which uses a different methodology to track foreclosures, released a report today showing a similar trend.
The one measure by which Colorado vastly out-performed the nation was in the monthly percentage drop from June to July. Colorado showed a 25.2 percent drop, compared to a 4.5 percent drop for the entire nation.
National snapshot
Nationally, in July foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 212,764 U.S. properties in July, a 4 percent decrease from June and a 35 percent decrease from July 2010, according to RealtyTrac.
“July foreclosure activity dropped 35 percent from a year ago, marking the 10th straight month of year-over-year decreases in foreclosure activity and the lowest monthly total since November 2007,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “This string of decreases was initially triggered by the robo-signing controversy back in October 2010, which forced lenders to substantially slow the pace of foreclosing, but the downward trend in foreclosure activity has now taken on a life of its own. It appears that the foreclosure processing delays, combined with the smorgasbord of national and state-level foreclosure prevention efforts — including loan modifications, lender-borrower mediations and mortgage payment assistance for the unemployed — may be allowing more distressed homeowners to stave off foreclosure.
“Unfortunately, the falloff in foreclosures is not based on a robust recovery in the housing market but on short-term interventions and delays that will extend the current housing market woes into 2012 and beyond,” Saccacio continued. “A stabilizing economy and improving job market are the long-term keys to a housing market recovery.”
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com
