Inman

Stockton, Calif., scores highest U.S. foreclosure rate

Foreclosure data provider RealtyTrac today reported that Stockton, Calif., had the highest foreclosure rate among all metro areas in the nation during the first half of 2007, with one foreclosure filing for every 27 households.

The company’s Midyear Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report found that Detroit was second on the list, with one foreclosure filing for every 29 households, and Las Vegas was third with one foreclosure filing for every 31 households.

Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., was fourth on the list with a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 33 households, followed by Sacramento, Calif., with one in 36; Denver-Aurora, Colo., with one in 42; Miami with one in 46; Bakersfield, Calif., with one in 47; Memphis, Tenn., with one in 49; and Cleveland-Lorain-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with one foreclosure for every 50 households.

The Stockton metro area had a total of 8,169 foreclosure filings on 4,239 properties in the first half of the year, which was more than triple the number reported during the same period in 2006 and more than double the number of properties reported during the second half of 2006.

Six of the metro areas that ranked among the top-20 highest foreclosure rates were in California, and four were in Ohio.

The Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., metro area reported 41,351 foreclosure filings on 22,291 properties during the first half of 2007, which was the highest number of filings among all metro areas tracked by RealtyTrac. That number nearly tripled compared to the first half of 2006, according to the report.

The Los Angeles metro area reported the second-highest total, with 38,199 foreclosure filings on 20,288 properties during the first half of the year.

And Atlanta’s total of 36,502 foreclosure filings on 22,412 properties was the third highest among the 100 top metro areas.

Other cities with foreclosure-filing totals among the 10 highest included Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Dallas, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento.

The household numbers are based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2005 estimates of total housing units, RealtyTrac reported.

The report includes counts of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported against them — “this new metric only counts a property once, even if there were multiple foreclosure actions filed against the property during the time period covered by the report,” RealtyTrac announced.

The company is a foreclosure data supplier to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal‘s Real Estate Journal.

Foreclosure Activity for the Nation’s 100 Largest MSAs — Jan to Jun 2007

Rate Rank

MSA

Foreclosure Filings

1 filing for every #HH

Properties with Filings

%? from prev  6 months

%? from First Half 2006

1

STOCKTON, CA

8,169

27

4,239

116

256

2

DETROIT/LIVONIA/DEARBORN, MI

28,705

29

20,231

26

99

3

LAS VEGAS/PARADISE, NV

22,928

31

13,028

72

142

4

RIVERSIDE/SAN BERNARDINO, CA

41,351

33

22,291

80

198

5

SACRAMENTO, CA

20,516

36

10,708

162

241

6

DENVER/AURORA, CO

23,842

42

13,149

14

11

7

MIAMI, FL

20,275

46

10,191

24

74

8

BAKERSFIELD, CA

5,365

47

2,721

85

222

9

MEMPHIS, TN

10,800

49

5,401

12

17

10

CLEVELAND/LORAIN/ELYRIA/MENTOR, OH

18,844

50

13,444

54

106

11

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL

15,720

50

7,162

16

72

12

ATLANTA/SANDY SPRINGS/MARIETTA, GA

36,502

54

22,412

20

17

13

FORT WORTH/ARLINGTON, TX

13,221

57

6,250

7

-10

14

FRESNO, CA

4,867

60

2,679

66

183

15

INDIANAPOLIS, IN

11,677

62

8,093

-3

-6

16

DAYTON, OH

5,966

63

3,881

56

96

17

DALLAS, TX

23,284

65

12,725

-9

-15

18

AKRON, OH

4,378

70

3,686

65

85

19

OAKLAND, CA

13,482

70

7,491

63

152

20

COLUMBUS, OH

10,706

70

7,363

55

85

Source: RealtyTrac