The average rent for the region was up from $738 reported during the fourth quarter of 2010, and was down slightly from 2011’s third-quarter average rent of $778, shows the report by the Colorado Division of Housing and the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado.

The median rent rose year over year to $742 during the fourth quarter, rising 4.3 percent from 2010’s fourth-quarter median rent of $711. The average rent increased in all types of apartments measured, including all types of units from efficiency apartments to three-bedroom apartments.

The average rent also increased year over year in all sub-markets measured during the fourth quarter in all areas except the Central region where the average rent fell 1.8 percent to $699. The average rent increased the most in the Southeast region where it increased 12 percent year over year to $708.

“We generally expect the rent to drop off a bit during the fourth quarter,” said Ron Throupe, a professor of real estate at the University of Denver’s Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management, and the report’s author. “Comparing year-over-year, however, we’ve now seen two years of solid rent growth in Colorado Springs.”

Average rents for all market areas were:

• Northwest, $819.
• Northeast, $742.
• Far Northeast, $900.
• Southeast, $708.
• Security/Widefield/Fountain, $615.
•  Southwest, $797.
•  Central, $699.

The apartment vacancy rate in the Colorado Springs metro area fell year over year to 6.7 percent during the fourth quarter of 2011, falling from 2010’s fourth-quarter vacancy rate of 7.2 percent. The fourth-quarter rate rose from this year’s third-quarter rate which was 6.2 percent.

The vacancy rate declined year over year in the Northeast, Far Northeast, Southeast and Security/Widefield/Fountain areas of Colorado Springs, while the vacancy rate increased during the same period in the Northwest and Central areas. The vacancy rate was unchanged in the Southwest area.

“Due to seasonal issues, the vacancy rate moved up a bit during the fourth quarter, but it was the lowest fourth-quarter vacancy rate for the metro area since the year 2000,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. “The region saw some job growth during 2011, and that, coupled with little new multifamily construction, has sent the vacancy rate down to a 12-year low.”

Vacancy rates for all market areas were:

• Northwest, 6.8 percent.
• Northeast, 5.3 percent.
• Far Northeast, 6.5 percent.
• Southeast, 9.6 percent.
• Security/Widefield/Fountain, 10.7 percent.
•  Southwest, 5.4 percent.
•  Central, 7.1 percent.

Apartment Realty Advisors is also a major sponsor of this report. The Vacancy and Rent Surveys are a service provided by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Colorado Division of Housing and the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado to renters and the multi-family housing industry on a quarterly basis.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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The average rent rose 6.7 percent from the third quarter of 2010, when it stood at $729. It also increased from $759 in the second quarter. The median rent also hit an all-time high of $752 during the third quarter, rising 7.4 percent from 2010’s third-quarter median rent of $700. The average rent increased in all types of apartments measured, including all types of units from efficiency apartments to three-bedroom apartments.

The average rent also increased in all sub-markets measured during the third quarter except in Northeast Colorado Springs where the average rent dropped from $749 to $741, year-over -year. The average rent in the Southeast region of Colorado Springs, on the other hand, increased $87  from $605 during last year’s third quarter, to $692 during the same period this year.

“This is some of the most solid rent growth we’ve seen in years,” said Ron Throupe, an assistant professor of business at the University of Denver, and the report’s author. “The third quarter showed the largest year-over-year increase in the metro-wide rent in ten years, and it was also the seventh quarter in a row for year-over-year growth.”

Average rents for all market areas were:

• Northwest, $849
•  Northeast, $741
•  Far Northeast,$909
•  Southeast, $692
•  Security/Widefield/Fountain, $613
•  Southwest, $790
•  Central, $718

The apartment vacancy rate in the Colorado Springs metro area fell to 6.2 percent during the third quarter of 2011, falling from 2010’s third-quarter vacancy rate of 6.6 percent. The third-quarter rate also fell from this year’s second-quarter rate which was 6.4 percent.

The vacancy rate declined in the Northeast, Southeast, Security/Widefield/Fountain and Southwest areas of Colorado Springs, while the vacancy rate increased in the Northwest, Far Northeast, and Central areas.

“The vacancy rate is at the second-lowest rate recorded in the last ten years, and it’s the lowest third-quarter vacancy rate since 2001,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing. “A lack of new multifamily construction in recent years is likely to encourage the rate to fall even more, but it looks like the industry is beginning to respond. Given the rent growth, it’s not surprising that El Paso County is among the counties with the most new multifamily building permits issued this year.”

Vacancy rates for all market areas were:

• Northwest, 5.6 percent;.
• Northeast, 4.6 percent;.
• Far Northeast, 7.1 percent.
•  Southeast, 8.0 percent.
•  Security/Widefield/Fountain, 10.7 percent. Southwest, 5.6 percent.
•  Central, 6.2 percent.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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The average rent for the region was up from $719 reported during the second quarter of 2010, and was up from 2011’s first quarter average rent of $737. The median rent also hit an all-time high of $740 during the second quarter, rising from 2010’s second-quarter median rent of $684. The average rent increased in all types of apartments measured, including efficiency apartments, two-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom apartments.

The average rent also increased in all sub-markets measured during the second quarter except in Security/Widefield/Fountain where the average rent dropped from $615 to $577, year over year. The average rent in the Northwest region of Colorado Springs, on the other hand, increased 67 dollars from $765 during last year’s second quarter, to $832 during the same period this year.

“The second quarter of this year continues a trend of solid rent growth in the area,” said Gordon Von Stroh, a professor of business at the University of Denver, and the report’s author. “Growth in both the average rent and the median rent has outpaced inflation over the past year, so we’re seeing some real growth which was expected now that many vacancy rates in the area have been cut in half over the past couple of years.”

Average rents for all market areas were:

• Northwest, $832.
• Northeast, $727.
• Far Northeast, $848.
• Southeast, $673.
• Security/Widefield/Fountain, $577.
• Southwest, $781.
• Central, $720.

The apartment vacancy rate in the Colorado Springs metro area rose to 6.4 percent during the second quarter of 2011, rising from 2010’s second-quarter vacancy rate of 5.8 percent. The second-quarter rate increased from this year’s first quarter rate which was also 5.8 percent, and a 10-year low.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com

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Colorado Springs was right behind at No. 8, on the list of the top 15 cities.

“That’s huge,” said Denver Mayor-elect Michael Hancock, after he spoke last week at the ground breaking of the 2020 Lawrence apartment building in Arapahoe Square in downtown Denver. Hancock will be sworn in as mayor on Monday.

“I think it is because of the vibrancy of downtown and all of the energy in the city,” said Hancock, when told of the ranking by InsideRealEstateNews.

“You can see a lot of young people enjoying places like Washington Park,” Hancock added. “Young professionals just love Denver.”

Brian Phetteplace, Manager of Retail and Residential Development for the Downtown Denver Partnership, was as enthused as Hancock.

Walkability, amenities draw young crowd

“That is very exciting,” Phetteplace said. “Rankings like this brings home the point that young professionals prefer urban centers such as Denver that are very walkable and provide a great number of amenities. We also have a large number of college-educated young people living here, which is attractive to employers.”

Forbes.com agreed: “The Mile High City boasts a significant college-educated population, a note-worthy number of small businesses and a healthy job growth rate that’s bolstered by the presence of companies like Lockheed Martin and IBM.”

As far as Colorado Springs, Forbes.com said: “The Rocky Mountain metro area is home to an impressive number of defense contractors and universities, ensuring big business job opportunities and a notable number of college-educated residents.”

Colorado was the only state to have two cities represented on the list.

To read the entire article on the Top 15 cities, please visit this Forbes.com link.

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Colorado Springs ranked relatively strong in a recent poll as far as green practices.

An online article last week by the Daily Beast that ranked Colorado Springs residents as being more green-conscious than those in Denver, raised some eyebrows in environmental circles.

Marilee Utter, principal of the Denver-based consulting firm Citiventure Associates, which specializes in land-use, transit-oriented sites and other sustainability efforts, called the findings “crazy,” for example.

She and others were mystified why Boulder did not make the list. The obvious reason – that its population is slightly below 100,000, the minimum number of people to be included in the ranking – turned out not to be correct.

After last week’s article in InsideRealEstateNews, John Fetto, a senior marketing manager at conumser-research firm  Experian Simmons that supplied some of the data to the Daily Beast article, returned a call to me.

It turns out that the Daily Beast, which last year merged with Newsweek, did not use the traditional definitions of metropolitan statistical areas in its ranking of the 25 greenest cities in the country.

Rather than using U.S. Census data, for example, it used what are known as Designated Market Areas. DMAs are a group of counties that make up a particular television area, as defined by the Nielsen Market Research Co.

DMAs are sprawling

“Basically, a DMA is a geographic area where you get your local TV news from,” Fetto explained.

The Denver DMA encompasses 67 counties – three more than in the entire state of Colorado. That is because it picks up some counties in Wyoming and Nebraska, although it does not include every county in Colorado.

At my request, Fetto broke out the results of a survey for Denver-area counties, as well as El Paso County, where Colorado Springs is located.

Experian Simmons polled people on their attitudes and behavior regarding green practices.

Greens vs Browns

Experian Simmons segmented respondents into what it called “Behavioral Greens,” and “True Browns.” The True Browns are the antithesis of those who make a concerted effort into sustainability. Indeed, nationally, there has been a growing backlash against tree-huggers. Across the country, the number of negative attitudes toward environmental issues has grown to 15 percent of the adult population from 13 percent in 2007, according to Fetto.

The Daily Beast re-named the categories as those who were eco-conscious and those who were not. It also rated areas based on those taking public transportation and a willingness to recycle. Experian Simmons did not supply all of the data.

Nationally, 35 percent of the U.S. population can be classified as Behavioral Greens, according to Fetto.

Boulder greenest of them all – at least in Denver DMA

In the Denver-area, only Boulder County topped that, with 37 percent. “Boulder is definitely a greener part of the Denver DMA,” Fetto said.

And El Paso County topped Denver, with 34 percent of the adult population describing themselves as Behavioral Greens compared with 30 percent in Denver.

However, El Paso County also had more True Browns, with 21 percent, compared with 16 percent in Denver.

Fetto noted that Colorado Springs’ residents are 40 percent more likely than the average U.S. adult to be True Browns.

“This was just one of the four factors used by the Daily Beast to determine the greenest markets, so obviously the other three outweighed the over-concentration of True Browns,” Fetto said. “This was something we commonly saw in the data.”

Little middle ground

He said that many markets “had higher than average concentrations of people in both the Behavioral Green and True Brown camps, indicating a polarization of attitudes with lower concentrations of people in the middle.”

Mike Kazmierski, president and CEO of the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corp., had never heard of the Daily Beast prior to the article. But after speaking to InsideRealEstateNews, where he learned the ranking of Colorado Springs, his group posted a link to the Daily Beast article on its website. The link was on the front page at first, but now can be found on the site from its News tab.

“I think it is interesting,” Kazmierski said. “I will do some research to see if it is a credible source,” he said before it was posted on its website.

Living the green

The Daily Beast ranked Colorado Springs No. 18, while Denver came at No. 20. Grand Junction was 21.

“We put a lot of effort, as a region, into sustainability and we are growing our commitment to renewable energy sources,” Kazmierski said. “We see clean-tech as a growth industry. As far as green industry goes, we are trying to walk the walk, and not just talk the talk.”

And it’s not just private industry, but Uncle Sam, too.

“Fort Carson has made a huge commitment to solar and the Air Force Academy is moving forward on sustainability and energy conservation methods in a big way.”

County	Adult Population	Behavioral Greens	True Browns	Make recycling effort
Denver	455,453	30%	16%	63%
El Paso	439,504	34%	21%	65%
Arapahoe	409,749	32%	16%	65%
Jefferson	402,758	33%	16%	67%
Adams	307,521	30%	15%	63%
Larimer	230,296	33%	18%	69%
Boulder	226,388	37%	17%	69%
Douglas	200,666	32%	17%	71%
Weld	180,330	33%	14%	67%
Broomfield	41,498	31%	14%	69%
Source: Experian Simmons

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Sorry, Denver. Colorado Springs is greener, according to a Daily Beast story.

Residents of Colorado Springs are “greener” than those in Denver, according to a national report released today.

The report published on the Daily Beast, a high-profile news and opinion website, ranked Colorado Springs No. 18 on its list of the 25 Greenest Cities in the country, while Denver was 20th. Grand Junction also made the list, coming in at No. 21. Boulder apparently did not make it on the list because it doesn’t have a population of at least 100,000, although it is close. The latest Census Bureau numbers put Boulder’s population at 97,385. On the other hand, Casper, Wyoming, did make the list and it has a population of about 56,000. A spokesman from the research company that provided data to the Daily Beast, Experion Simmons, did not return a call to InsideRealEstateNews.

Only California tops Colorado

Colorado with three cities on the top 25 list, had more cities than any other state other than the much-bigger, California, with four cities.

Still, Marilee Utter, principal of Denver-based Citiventure Associates LLC, isn’t buying that residents of Colorado Springs are better stewards of the environment, on average, than those in Denver.

“I cannot imagine ranking Colorado Springs ahead of Denver,” said Utter, whose firm consults on such things as transit-oriented development and land use. Indeed, Utter was consulting in Billings, Mt., when she discussed the report, which she had not yet seen.

The Daily Beast, with the help of Experion Simmons, ranked cities by five metrics:

• Residents that think and act eco-consciously.
• Residents that are not eco-conscious.
• Residents that recycle.
• Average weekday trips on public transportation.
• Average weekday trips on public transportation as a percentage.

Each of the categories was weighted equally. The Daily Beast came up with a final ranking by comparing each city’s performance to the average for each category. It also measured the percentage of homes with solar heating.

“Given all the environmental focus, The Daily Beast wanted to find out where cities stand on their green record the rest of the year, beyond Earth Day,” according to the article.

After told the metrics used by the Daily Beast, Colorado Springs scoring better than Denver was even more puzzling, Utter said.

“It is crazy,” she said. “Colorado Springs has a horrible bus system. Colorado Springs is even more sprawling than Denver.”

Unusual ranking

Beth Conover, a long-time environmentalist and the architect of “Greenprint Denver,” one of the nation’s earliest and largest urban sustainability programs, said that the Daily Beast is not “your typical ranking,” noting that it included Casper, Wyoming. Casper is considerably smaller than Boulder, so it is strange that “Boulder didn’t make the cut, given that city’s propensity to tax themselves for carbon use, compost, and install solar, micro-wind, etc.” She also noted that the ranking was about the “cities with the greenest-behaving people (as measured by recycling, solar collectors and transit use, through polling), in contrast to green impacts, as measured by other indicators. Seems limited to me.

Controversy the goal?

“My sense was that they were trying to be a little controversial by putting the usual front-runners, (i.e Portland, Seattle) at the back of the pack, and elevating cities like Las Vegas and Reno,” continued  Conover, a partner of the Denver-based environmental consulting firm, Econover, LLC. “The main trick there seemed to be including the “uncommitted” in addition to the committed, which I found odd,” said Conover, who helped lay the groundwork for the greening of the Democratic Convention in Denver in 2008.”A few questions that aren’t clearly answered in their very brief summary: did they weight the few factors they considered equally? There is no mention of climate action commitments, or of green building policies/ incentives, nor of cost savings from energy efficiency.”

The report ranked New York City first, while Missoula, Mt., was No. 25.

City	Eco-conscious residents	Non eco-conscious	Recycling residents	Weekly public transportation trips	Homes with solar heating
Colorado Springs	33%	21%	64%	10,800	0.13%
Denver	32%	16%	66%	278,033	0.04%
Grand Junction	27%	17%	62%	3,90	0.10%
New York (No. 1)	43%	15%	68%	13.3 million	0.01%
Missoula (No. 25)	27%	18%	64%	n/a	0.10%

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

To see what homes are for sale in Colorado Springs, please visit this COhomefinder.com link.

To read the entire Daily Beast story and watch the slide show, please go to America’s Greenest Cities.

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According to the report by the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado and the Colorado Division of Housing, the vacancy rate in the Colorado Springs area fell 15.7 percent year over year from 2010’s first-quarter rate of 6.9 percent. Apartment Realty Advisors also is a major sponsor of the report.

The vacancy rate also dropped from 2010’s fourth quarter rate of 7.2 percent, as expected. Seasonal factors generally lead to a falling vacancy rate from the fourth quarter to first quarter.

The first quarter’s drop in the vacancy rate is the eighth quarter in a row in which the vacancy rate has fallen when compared to the same period a year earlier.

Decade-low rates

“The vacancy rate hasn’t been lower than this in any quarter since the third quarter of 2001 when the vacancy rate was at 5.4 percent. That was two recessions ago,” said Ryan McMaken, a spokesperson with the Division of Housing. “It’s taken 10 years for the vacancy rate to return to where it was before the 2002 recession hit Colorado, but with so little new construction, and with a continued troop presence in the region, it looks like rates may stay low, at least in the near term.”

Year over year, vacancy rates fell the most in the “Southwest” market area of Colorado Springs where vacancy rates fell 35 percent from 5.1 percent to 3.3 percent. Vacancy rates were lowest in the Northwest and Southwest market areas with rates of 3.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Vacancy rates for all market areas were: Northwest, 3.6 percent; Northeast, 6.5 percent; Far Northeast, 5.5 percent, Southeast, 7.0 percent; Security/Widefield/Fountain, 16.2 percent; Southwest, 3.3 percent; Central, 6.3 percent.

Rental rates also rise

As vacancy rates moved down, the area’s average rent increased. 2011’s first-quarter average rent rose 3.7 percent to $737.00 from 2010’s first-quarter average rent of $710.07. In individual market areas, the average rent rose year over year in all areas except the Southeast and the Security/Wifefield/Fountain areas. The area with the largest year-over-year increase in the average rent was the Central region with an increase of 10.6 percent from $649.88 to $719.37. The average rent dropped the most in the Security/Widefield/Fountain area where the average rent fell 5.7 percent from $603.58 during 2010’s first quarter to $568.86 during the first quarter of this year.

“The average rent in the Colorado Springs has not gone down in any quarter since the third quarter of 2009. For the last six quarters, the average rent has either been flat or it’s gone up, and when comparing year over year, the average rent has increased five quarters in a row.” said Gordon Von Stroh, professor of Business at the University of Denver, and the report’s author. “We haven’t seen this kind of rent growth across the Colorado Springs area in more than ten years.”

Average rents for all market areas were:

• Northwest, $839.62
• Northeast, $721.48
• Far Northeast, $832.69
• Southeast, $598.42
• Security/Widefield/Fountain, $668.86
• Southwest, $765.09; Central, $719.37.

About the report

The Vacancy and Rent Surveys are a service provided by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Colorado Division of Housing and the Apartment Association of Southern Colorado to renters and the multi-family housing industry on a quarterly basis. The Colorado Springs Area Vacancy and Rent Survey reports averages and, as a result, there are often differences in rental and vacancy rates by size, location, age of building, and apartment type.  For more information, please see the Division of Housing’s economics blog at this link.

If you are more interested in buying than renting in the Springs, please visit this COhomefinder.com link.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com.

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Becky Hurley

By Becky Hurley

Special to InsideRealEstateNews

Midnight Sun Capital LLC, in a venture with two Native American Alaskan investment groups, paid $11.175 million for a T-Mobile call center in Colorado Springs, the largest industrial building transaction so far this year in the Pikes Peak region.

The 69,287-square-foot building at 556 Chapel Hills Drive was sold to 556 Chapel Hills LLC, the entity created by Colorado Springs-based Midnight Sun to buy it.

The seller was DIV Briargate Property LLC, a Massachusetts limited liability company that teamed with Griffis/Blessing of Colorado Springs.  The building was originally part of a 283,000-square-foot Prime Center Business Campus acquisition last year.

Larimer heads Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun is a  private equity company headed by Colorado Springs attorney and native Hawaiian, Louie V. Larimer. Larimer is the president and CEO.

The T- Mobile building purchase was a collaborative venture between Larimer and two Alaska Native American corporations –  Cal Corp. and the Aleut Corp. Brady O’Donnell of Johnson Capital brokered the financing, which was provided by Wells Fargo.

“The acquisition of the T-Mobile call center with its strong cash flow is a continuing step toward fulfillment of our vision to create long-term, sustainable cash flow for native-owned organizations,” Larimer said.

The group’s acquisition strategy is focused on investing in core Class A income-producing properties.

Founded in 2009, during its first year, Midnight Sun Capital’s portfolio accumulated $10 million in assets.  It plans call  for an additional $15 million to $20 million in property acquisitions annually through 2012.

For more information, contact Louie Larimer, 719-440-6410 or email Louie@MidnightSunllc.com. Becky Hurley can be reached at 719-650-3272 or beckyhurley6@gmail.com. Hurley was a staff reporter at the Colorado Springs Business Journal from 2001 until 2010.

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A Douglas County District Court judge sentenced sentenced Adam Kelepolo ,38,  to a 10-year community corrections term for his part in defrauding investors between September 2002 and March 2007 as part of a securities fraud scheme. Kelepolo also was ordered to pay $820,000 in restitution to his victims.

Derek Roy Kent, 65, in February 2009 was sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the scheme. The judge also ordered Kent to pay $765,477 in restitution to his victims.

AG makes fraud prosecution a priority

“The judge’s stiff sentences in these cases underline the toll investment scams can inflict on consumers,” Suthers said. “I have made the prosecution of securities fraud cases one of the focal points of my tenure in office. With so many people trying to recoup their losses during this economic recession, Coloradans have been accosted by investment schemes preying on their desire to recover their savings.”

According to the indictment, handed down in May 2009, Kelepolo and Kent raised more than $1 million for a variety of projects, including housing projects in an area known as the Broadmoor Bluffs in Colorado Springs and a business campus in Larkspur.

Kelepolo is suspected of using the money for personal expenses, including restaurant bills and gambling expenses at Cripple Creek casinos. Kent and Kelepolo also allegedly used investors’ funds to make loan payments to Vectra Bank. Minimal amounts of the money the duo raised actually were invested in the projects they pitched to investors.

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com.

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The report showed 17,087 homes in some stage of foreclosure, ranging from the initial notice to the REO, or Real Estate Owned, when the bank acquires the home at a public trustee foreclosure auction. In the Denver area, 1.62 percent of the homes were in some stage of foreclosure, compared with 1.28 percent for the nation. One out of every 62 households was in some stage of foreclosure, while the national average was one out of 78. In the first six months of the year, the foreclosure rate rose by 9.3 in the Denver area, compared with an 8.26 percent for the nation.

Greeley’s foreclosure rate worse than Denver’s

Greeley was No. 29, with 2,334 foreclosures, a foreclosure rate of 2.58 percent, and one out of every 40 households in some stage of foreclosure. It matched the year-over-year percentage change of the nation as a whole, at 8.26%

The report also ranked Colorado Springs as No. 53 and Boulder at 136.

Across the country, 154 of the 206 MSAs with a population of at least 200,000, posted year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity, according to RealtyTrac. Four states — Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona — accounted for all top 20 metro foreclosure rates. Florida led the way, with nine of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates, followed by California with eight, Nevada with two and Arizona with one.

Recovery fragile

“While we’re seeing early signs that foreclosure activity may have peaked in some of the hardest-hit markets, foreclosures continued to rise in three-quarters of the nation’s metropolitan areas in the first half of the year,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The fragile stability achieved in many local housing markets hinges on improvements in the underlying economy, specifically job growth. If unemployment remains persistently high and foreclosure prevention efforts only delay the inevitable, then we could continue to see increased foreclosure activity and a corresponding weakness in home prices in many metro areas.”

Top metro foreclosure rates

Las Vegas continued to post the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate in the first half of the year, with 6.60 percent of its housing units (one in 15) receiving a foreclosure filing — more than five times the national average. A total of 53,525 Las Vegas properties received a foreclosure filing during the six-month period, a decrease of nearly 15 percent from the previous six months and a decrease of nearly 9 percent from the first half of 2009.

Foreclosure activity in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area decreased nearly 22 percent from the previous six months and was down nearly 30 percent from the first half of 2009, but the metro area still documented the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate — 4.98 percent of its housing units (one in 20) received a foreclosure filing during the six-month period. Other Florida cities in the top 10 were Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 8 (4.15 percent of housing units) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach at No. 10 (3.89 percent).

Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.

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