New information released by RealtyTrac indicates that while their numbers still stink, America’s “hot spots” for foreclosures are actually on the mend. However, their long-term negative growth has locked their real estate markets into poor rankings at the bottom of the pile.
While foreclosure filings are still climbing in places like Baltimore (up 141 percent from last year), Salt Lake City (up 100 percent) and Columbia, South Caroline (up 170 percent), in 14 of RealtyTrac’s top 20 cities for foreclosure the numbers of foreclosure filings have actually gone down in the past year, and 8 of those 14 cities in the top 10.
RealtyTrac’s CEO, James Saccacio, says that decreasing activities are not a sure sign that these areas are out of the woods, since he attributes much of the decline in foreclosure activity to government programs incentivizing short sales that may have led to lender delay in foreclosing on distressed properties. He believes that we need more time to tell whether or not these delays have actually led to fewer foreclosures.
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