The number of Washington area homeowners in foreclosure has more that doubled in the past year, according to a report to be released Wednesday that shows the problem remains most acute in a few counties and could get worse as more borrowers fall behind on their payments.
About 2.7 percent of local borrowers are in the foreclosure process, meaning that the bank has started the legal process to take back the property, according to the report by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit policy research group based in Washington. That was slightly below the national average of 2.9 percent.
But that is up from about 1.4 percent in June 2008 and 0.5 percent in June 2007, according to the report. (The report excludes Howard and Anne Arundel counties.) ...
But the problem is far worse in three counties: Prince George's, where 5.2 percent of borrowers are in foreclosure; Charles with 3.9 percent; and Prince William with 3.7 percent. These areas had high concentrations of minority borrowers who were more likely to take out subprime loans, according to the report.
Monday, November 02, 2009
D.C. area foreclosures double year-over-year
From last Wednesday's Washington Post:
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I saw American Casino a documentary about the housing bubble at the AFI yesterday. A bit of a polemic, but interesting nonetheless. -Jim A.
ReplyDeleteJust one point of anecdotal data: all of the foreclosures I've seen on east Captiol Hill and points north have involved "problem" housing. (i.e. the house on the corner where fights routinely break out, and some dude drops trou and pisses off his front porch).
ReplyDeleteThe most recent was a "bank sale", which transformed a crack-house into a fully remodeled rowhouse, with a upper middle-class DINK couple.
As much as it makes me feel like an a-hole to say it (and I would never admit this outside of an anonymous blog comment form), inside the city at least, foreclosures have had an upside.
The first time home buyer credit must be working!!!
ReplyDelete319,922 housing units in PG as of 2007. 5.2% in foreclosure would be 16,636 units. Official number of listings in Sept 09 from GCAAR is 4150, and settlements YTD is 4325. This suggests the number of foreclosures equals around 3 years of sales. How many of these foreclosures become listings? Will we see some markets 'blow up' with foreclosure inventory? The listings/settlements is 7.5 months for Sept, looking like business as usual almost, now.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with oboe, in my Silver Spring neighborhood the houses getting foreclosed on were bought by families with no money who converted them into two and three apartments impacting our neighborhood with over parking, crime, over crowding and neglect. Two of them with a block from here have simply burned to the ground from over worked electrical systems.
ReplyDeleteThese properties are now being bought, fixed up ( they were stripped of everything that was or wasn't nailed down in the foreclosure process) and made back into single family homes.
I too see this as the upside of the foreclosure crisis.
my friends, it may be tragic to have a bubble, but it will shock some wisdom into a bunch of fools.
ReplyDeleteThose three counties are clearly suburban, though. Any numbers on DC itself???
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