Foreclosure Activity Drops in Maricopa Arizona and Rest of the Country
Foreclosure activity in the first half of 2011 dropped in 84% of the 211
metropolitan areas surveyed by foreclosure data firm RealtyTrac. The market for homes for sale in Maricopa Arizona has experienced similar declines.
Despite foreclosure rates improving in most major markets, RealtyTrac
analysts believe the slowdown is a side effect of numerous legislative and
judicial decisions that are slowing the process as opposed to a genuine clearing
of excess inventory.
Cities located in California, Nevada and Arizona dominated RealtyTrac’s list
of top ten metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates.
Florida, another market known for taking a hit in the real estate downturn,
experienced a slow down in foreclosure activity in the first half, with only
one state metro area — Cape Coral-Fort Myers — showing up on RealtyTrac’s list
of top-20 cities with the highest foreclosure rates. In the first half of 2010,
Florida cities held nine spots on the list.
“Foreclosure activity continued to slow in the first half of 2011, especially
in the most foreclosure-saturated markets and in markets where the judicial
foreclosure process is used,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of
RealtyTrac. “The 20 metro areas with the biggest year-over-year decreases in
foreclosure activity were all in states with judicial foreclosure processes —
New York, Maryland, Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and
Illinois.
The Las Vegas-Paradise metro area continued to possess the nation’s highest
metro foreclosure rate with one in every 19 housing units, or 5.36% of the
market, becoming the subject of a foreclosure filing in the first half of the
year. That rate is about six times higher than the national average, according
to RealtyTrac.
The Reno-Sparks area also ranked high with a 2.96% foreclosure rate.
The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. area, which has the second highest
foreclosure rate in the nation, saw 60,985 properties receive a foreclosure
filing in the first half. That is down 8% from the previous six-month period and
a drop of nearly 17% from a year ago.
