County sees more than 2,000 cases in October Prince George’s County saw more than 2,000 foreclosure filings last month, and the Maryland suburb accounted for nearly one-third of the total in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
The total more than doubled the foreclosures from October 2008, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks and markets foreclosed properties. One of every 157 homes received a foreclosure filing in the county, compared with one of every 348 in Maryland and one of every 385 in the United States.
Nationally, the report for October was a mixed bag; foreclosures ticked down slightly from September to October, but rose nearly 19 percent from October 2008.
“Three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for our report and on first blush an indication that the foreclosure tide may be turning,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
Indeed, the foreclosure crisis appears to be abating in Northern Virginia, which was seeing record numbers during the past two years. Prince William County’s filings dropped over 50 percent from last October, and Loudoun and Fairfax counties also saw modest decreases.
Still, Prince William’s rate of one filing for every 200 homes and Loudoun’s rate of one in 233 were still well above the statewide rate of one in 597. And Saccacio cautioned that the struggling economy threatened continued improvement.
“The fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn — high-risk mortgages, negative equity and unemployment — continue to loom over any nascent recovery,” he said. “And despite all the efforts and resources directed at helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, we continue to see foreclosure activity levels that are substantially higher than a year ago in most states.”
D.C.’s inner suburbs of Alexandria and Arlington have consistently outperformed Virginia’s exurban communities — a trend that continued in October. The two saw 80 and 83 filings during the month, respectively.
“The real estate market is mixed,” said Bruce Johnson, Alexandria’s chief financial officer. “While foreclosures are at a historically high level, they are down from last October’s peak.”
