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Signs of hope in foreclosures for state
August 14, 2008
Wisconsin hasn't suffered as badly as the rest of the nation regarding home foreclosures, and it appears the crisis might be easing somewhat here.
The number of homeowners stung by the dramatic decline in the U.S. housing market jumped last month as foreclosure filings grew by more than 50% compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Thursday.
Nationwide, more than 272,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in July, up 55% from about 175,000 in the same month last year and up 8% from June, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Nevada, California, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Georgia and Michigan had the highest foreclosure rates. Foreclosure filings increased from a year earlier in all but eight states.
Wisconsin's foreclosure picture was mixed but showed signs of improvement.
The state had 2,044 foreclosure actions in July, up 64% from a year ago but down 13.5% from June, RealtyTrac said.
Among the 50 states, Wisconsin ranked 29th in the rate of foreclosure, with 1 for every 1,240 households. That's an improvement from June, when RealtyTrac ranked Wisconsin 23rd, with one home in 1,072 at some point of the foreclosure process.
Nationally, one in every 464 households received a foreclosure filing last month, RealtyTrac said.
The Milwaukee-area real estate market saw a glimmer of hope in July as foreclosures in southeastern Wisconsin fell to a 13-month low.
There were 689 foreclosure actions started in courts in the seven-county Milwaukee area in July, a decline of 14.1% from the month before. It was the lowest number of foreclosures in those courts since June 2007, when there were 638.
It remains to be seen how much government's intervention will stem the housing crisis. President Bush last month signed sweeping housing legislation that aims to prevent foreclosures by allowing homeowners to swap their mortgages for more affordable loans, but only if their lender agrees to take a loss on the initial loan.
The bill is projected to help about 400,000 households.
The number of foreclosures "could start to stabilize as early as the first quarter of next year if the government program gains any traction," said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president for marketing. "That's really the unknowable right now."
Even with government help, nearly 2.8 million U.S. households will either face foreclosure, turn over their homes to their lender or sell the properties for less than their mortgage's value by the end of next year, predicts Moody's Economy.com.
In the RealtyTrac report, the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida was the metro area with the highest rate of foreclosure, followed by three California cities: Merced, Stockton and Modesto. Las Vegas ranked fifth.
