Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas posted the nation’s three highest metropolitan foreclosure rates in the second quarter, and four Texas cities are on the top-10 list, foreclosure information company RealtyTrac reported today.
The latest U.S. Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which ranks the foreclosure rates of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, found that Denver, Memphis and San Antonio also registered foreclosure rates among the nation’s top 10.
One in every 101 households in Indiana was in foreclosure in the second quarter, according to the report.
While six of the cities in the top 10 were on this short list in first-quarter 2006, four were new to the top-10: Stockton, Calif., Salt Lake City, Austin and Houston.
James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said in a statement, “The majority of metros we track, along with the nation as a whole, reported fewer foreclosures compared to the previous quarter.”
Of the cities with the 10 highest foreclosure rates, Houston, Austin and Stockton were the only ones to report increasing foreclosure activity in the second quarter. Houston led the way with 11,659 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 40 percent increase from the previous quarter. Austin reported a 7 percent increase, and Stockton reported a 2 percent increase.
Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas all documented second-quarter foreclosure rates that were more than three times the national average, and the remainder of the top-10 cities documented foreclosure rates that were more than twice the national average. With 18,290 properties entering some stage of foreclosure during the quarter, Dallas reported the highest number of new foreclosure filings among the 100 largest metros.
Portland, Ore.; Birmingham, Ala.; Boston; Providence, R.I.; Albany, N.Y.; and Madison, Wis., were among the metro areas with a large gain in the foreclosure rate from the first quarter to the second quarter.
Chicago reported a 60 percent increase in foreclosures from the previous quarter, and the city’s foreclosure rate of one new foreclosure filing for every 198 households ranked 17th highest. San Francisco reported a 23 percent increase in foreclosure activity, and Washington-Baltimore reported a 6 percent increase in foreclosure activity, though foreclosure rates in both cities ranked among the bottom 50.
Foreclosure rates in Los Angeles and New York City ranked 50th and 54th respectively, and foreclosure activity declined in both metropolitan areas during the second quarter. New York reported 15,195 properties entering some stage of foreclosure during the quarter, a 12 percent decrease from the previous quarter, and Los Angeles reported 11,973 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 22 percent decrease from the previous quarter.
RealtyTrac’s report includes properties in all three phases of foreclosure: pre-foreclosures (notice of default and lis pendens); foreclosures (notice of trustee sale and notice of foreclosure sale); and real estate owned, or REO, properties, that have been re-purchased by a bank.
RealtyTrac publishes a national database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, with about 600,000 properties in about 2,500 counties across the country. The company is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate, AOL Real Estate and Knight Ridder Online.
