Last week John Rebchook reported on his Inside Real Estate News blog that April foreclosure filings in Colorado’s 12 largest counties fell by 40% from the same period in 2010. Today Rebchook reports on RealtyTrac data showing that foreclosure sales were down 29% from 4th Quarter 2009 to First Quarter 2010, a sharper decline than the 16.5% drop for the nation. http://insiderealestatenews.com/
This is good news, not great news, because of the stories behind the stories.
First, we know that many lenders have become reluctant to move more properties to foreclosure until the ramifications of the lawsuit by the state attorneys general are known. In the meantime, we continue to hear about people living essentially "rent free" in their homes without making payments. That said, the First Quarter 2011 national mortgage delinquency rate (30 days or more) was down to less than 8.5% from over 10% a year ago. However, this is still higher than any time before 2009 - we aren't out of the woods yet.
To see some great charts of mortgage delinquencies check out the Calculated Risk blog at: Mortgage Delinquency Charts Or paste this into your browser: http://cr4re.com/charts/charts.html?Delinquency#category=Delinquency
According to "the Atlantic," banks are accumulating foreclosed properties rather than quickly releasing them to the market. This helps banks avoid booking losses that would erode their capital, prevents the need to increase staff to process more foreclosures and prevents housing markets from being flooded - which would further drive down home prices and cause even more losses. If this is also true in Colorado, expect housing supply to continue to exceed demand for an extended period, and continued market malaise.
Link to article: Foreclosure Inventory Growing Or paste this into your browser: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/05/implications-of-foreclosure-inventory-growing/239325
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