Ada County Market Report

U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECREASES 8 PERCENT IN NOVEMBER
By RealtyTrac Staff   

Activity Up 18 Percent From November 2008, But Down 15 Percent From July Peak
More Than 300,000 Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings for Ninth Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif. – Dec. 10, 2009 – RealtyTrac® (http://www.realtytrac.com/gateway_co.asp?accnt=137300), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its November 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 306,627 U.S. properties during the month, a decrease of nearly 8 percent from the previous month but still up 18 percent from November 2008. The report also shows one in every 417 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in November.

“November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we’ve seen since February,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home value depreciation. This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.”

Default notices nationwide were down 8 percent from the previous month but still up 22 percent from November 2008, scheduled foreclosure auctions were down 12 percent from the previous month but still up 32 percent from November 2008, and bank repossessions were flat from the previous month and down 2 percent from November 2008.

Nevada, Florida, California post top state foreclosure rates
Nevada foreclosure activity decreased by a double-digit percentage for the second straight month, but the state continued to document the nation’s top foreclosure rate with one in every 119 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November — 3.5 times the national average. A total of 9,295 Nevada properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, a 33 percent decrease from the previous month and also a 33 percent decrease from November 2008. Nevada’s November total was 52 percent below its July total of 19,535 properties with foreclosure filings.

Florida posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 165 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Florida took the No. 2 spot from California, which posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate — one in every 180 housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

After three straight months of decreases, Arizona foreclosure activity increased nearly 8 percent in November and the state documented the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate with one in every 186 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Despite a nearly 2 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Idaho posted the fifth highest state foreclosure rate in November with one in every 259 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were Michigan, Illinois, Utah, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Four states account for more than 50 percent of national total
For the second month in a row, the same four states accounted for 52 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity: California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan.

Despite a 13 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, California continued to post the highest total of any state with 73,995 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in November — still up 22 percent from November 2008 but down nearly 32 percent from its July peak of 108,104. November marked the fourth straight month that California foreclosure activity has declined on a month-over-month basis.

After two straight month-over-month decreases, Florida foreclosure activity increased slightly in November. A total of 52,935 Florida properties received foreclosure filings during the month, an increase of nearly 2 percent from the previous month and up nearly 8 percent from November 2008.

Illinois foreclosure activity decreased nearly 18 percent from a record high in October, but the state’s 16,422 properties receiving foreclosure filings in November was still nearly 108 percent higher than November 2008 and third highest among all the states.

A total of 15,988 Michigan properties received foreclosure filings in November, a decrease of nearly 3 percent from the previous month but still nearly 10 percent above the state’s total in November 2008.

Other states with totals among the 10 highest in the country were Arizona (14,349), Texas (12,095), Ohio (10,587), Georgia (9,664), Nevada (9,295) and New Jersey (9,227).

Las Vegas drops out of top spot among 10 highest metro foreclosure rates
After four straight months with the nation’s top foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000, Las Vegas dropped to No. 5 thanks to a 33 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. One in every 102 Las Vegas housing units received a foreclosure filing in November — still more than four times the national average.

The top three metro foreclosure rates were in California. Merced took the top spot, with one in every 83 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November thanks in part to a 21 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month. Stockton foreclosure activity increased 37 percent from the previous month, and the city documented the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate with one in every 85 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Despite a 7 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month, Modesto posted the nation’s third highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 87 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in November.

Other California metro areas with foreclosure rates in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 6 (one in every 102 housing units); Bakersfield at No. 7 (one in 111); Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 9 (one in 126); and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at No. 10 (one in 132).

Florida accounted for two of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 4 with one in every 96 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; and Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 8 with one in every 120 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Report methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is received for a property during the month, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State – November 2009

		Properties with Foreclosure Filings
Rate Rank	State Name	NOD	LIS	NTS	NFS	REO	Total	1/every X HH (rate)	%Change from Oct 09	%Change from Nov 08
--	United States	44,757	69,413	81,843	33,913	76,701	306,627	417	-7.72	18.35
31	Alabama	0	0	1,349	0	796	2,145	996	-12.34	249.92*
33	Alaska	2	0	207	0	63	272	1,038	-10.53	51.96
4	Arizona	8	0	9,823	0	4,518	14,349	186	7.52	9.23
26	Arkansas	125	0	1,021	0	426	1,572	819	-16.91	1.95
3	California	30,071	0	29,125	0	14,799	73,995	180	-13.38	22.32
11	Colorado	22	0	3,299	0	1,883	5,204	409	3.11	-2.31
20	Connecticut	0	1,585	0	95	434	2,114	680	-8.33	-3.69
29	Delaware	0	0	0	220	223	443	877	0.91	87.71
	District of Columbia	0	0	316	0	46	362	785	40.31	5.23
2	Florida	0	32,276	0	13,806	6,853	52,935	165	1.97	7.61
12	Georgia	0	0	6,460	0	3,204	9,664	410	-22.49	-3.39
15	Hawaii	96	0	580	0	196	872	581	-5.73	121.88
5	Idaho	1,202	0	1,095	0	135	2,432	259	-1.58	89.41*
7	Illinois	0	8,524	0	2,840	5,058	16,422	319	-17.67	107.64
17	Indiana	0	1,344	0	1,477	1,392	4,213	659	-3.94	-6.02
42	Iowa	0	0	284	0	338	622	2,138	47.04	19.16
37	Kansas	0	198	0	369	311	878	1,389	-5.49	24.01
40	Kentucky	0	250	0	406	351	1,007	1,893	-13.49	135.83
32	Louisiana	0	526	0	818	449	1,793	1,037	40.74*	255.75*
41	Maine	0	39	0	234	92	365	1,909	0.55	21.67
9	Maryland	0	2,342	0	3,317	711	6,370	364	-4.37	83.57
19	Massachusetts	0	1,715	0	1,632	658	4,005	680	-25.98	76.35
6	Michigan	5,954	0	4,982	0	5,052	15,988	283	-2.91	9.55**
18	Minnesota	5	0	1,646	0	1,782	3,433	671	15.09	56.97
46	Mississippi	0	0	206	0	127	333	3,768	-38.22	148.51*
27	Missouri	4	0	1,944	0	1,269	3,217	823	-0.03	11.51†
43	Montana	0	0	3	0	151	154	2,828	45.28	165.52
45	Nebraska	149	0	14	0	53	216	3,615	75.61	500.00
1	Nevada	5,549	0	1,368	0	2,378	9,295	119	-32.85	-33.43
25	New Hampshire	0	0	557	0	198	755	787	-15.83	12.52
10	New Jersey	0	7,499	0	1,028	700	9,227	379	24.10	65.30
38	New Mexico	0	211	0	105	236	552	1,562	-55.63	150.91*
39	New York	0	3,285	0	509	607	4,401	1,804	-8.26	69.20
36	North Carolina	405	0	1,321	0	1,547	3,273	1,260	-5.05	17.19
48	North Dakota	0	0	0	16	30	46	6,751	-22.03	-16.36
13	Ohio	0	3,963	0	3,142	3,482	10,587	478	-9.09	-17.82
34	Oklahoma	0	592	0	560	325	1,477	1,099	-4.83	44.95*
14	Oregon	35	0	1,877	0	943	2,855	564	-9.65	-3.71
35	Pennsylvania	0	1,905	0	1,694	1,366	4,965	1,103	-10.46	24.94
21	Rhode Island	0	0	482	0	174	656	687	-27.35	-26.70
30	South Carolina	0	1,047	0	261	911	2,219	911	-23.19	9.80
44	South Dakota	0	50	0	30	28	108	3,308	2.86	140.00
23	Tennessee	0	0	1,721	0	2,004	3,725	731	-7.57	7.44
24	Texas	19	0	6,818	0	5,258	12,095	780	2.52	54.21
8	Utah	1,079	0	614	0	977	2,670	347	11.11	33.30
50	Vermont	0	0	2	0	14	16	19,465	6.67	-27.27
22	Virginia	31	0	2,998	0	1,561	4,590	713	-16.30	-19.39†
28	Washington	1	0	1,719	0	1,568	3,288	835	-1.47	15.45
49	West Virginia	0	0	9	0	105	114	7,743	14.00	235.29
16	Wisconsin	0	2,062	0	1,354	878	4,294	596	-0.39	118.30
47	Wyoming	0	0	3	0	41	44	5,508	-33.33	-56.00

*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements
**Collection of records classified as NOD began in August 2009 because of change in state law
† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in January 2009

About RealtyTrac Inc.
RealtyTrac (http://www.realtytrac.com/) is the leading online marketplace of foreclosure properties, with more than 1.5 million default, auction and bank-owned listings from over 2,200 U.S. counties, along with detailed property, loan and home sales data. Hosting more than 3 million unique monthly visitors, RealtyTrac provides innovative technology solutions and practical education resources to facilitate buying, selling and investing in real estate. RealtyTrac’s foreclosure data has also been used by the Federal Reserve, FBI, U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee, U.S. Treasury Department, and numerous state housing and banking departments to help evaluate foreclosure trends and address policy issues related to foreclosures. RealtyTrac publishes a blog with daily updates on the foreclosure market (www.foreclosurepulse.com) and a monthly print newsletter covering the foreclosure market in depth (www.foreclosurenewsreport.com).

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Media Contact:
Michelle Sabolich
Atomic Public Relations
415-402-0230
michelle.sabolich@atomicpr.com

I think December will be a lot higher, and the new year will bring in some new numbers when we see some of the failed loan mods come down the pipe.