Foreclosure filings doubled in Montgomery County and tripled in Prince George’s County in May from a year ago, according to data released Thursday.
The Washington region saw a 4.37 percent increase in foreclosures over the period, and one of every 364 houses in the area received a foreclosure notice in May, according to tracking company RealtyTrac. Nationally, one of every 398 homes received such a notice last month.
Montgomery County saw 828 filings in May, versus 398 in 2008, while Prince George’s County had 1,293, compared with 408 last year.
The Washington area is “certainly not one of the top [foreclosure] spots,” said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Blomquist. He added that counties with more foreclosures — such as Prince William — were turning around quicker as home prices dropped to bargain levels.
Analysts say rising unemployment — more than risky loans — is the major factor behind the current foreclosure wave.
Jill Landsman, spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, pointed out the Mortgage Bankers Association’s opinion that unemployment and illness were the two major reasons people went into foreclosure.
Homes being foreclosed on are beginning to shift from those with riskier subprime and option adjustable-rate mortgages/Alternative A-paper loans to those with prime, fixed-rate loans, according to Jay Brinkmann, the mortgage bankers’ chief economist.
“More than anything else, this points to the impact of the recession and drops in employment on mortgage defaults,” he said.
Unemployment rates in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties have increased significantly since last year. Average unemployment in Prince George’s nearly doubled for the first four months this year, according to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The January-April 2009 average was 6.7 percent, compared with a 3.7 percent rate during the same period last year.
The four-month average for Montgomery, while lower, also increased significantly, jumping to 4.8 percent in 2009 from 2.7 percent in 2008.
Stephen Fuller, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, said Thursday that he expected the national unemployment rate to peak at 10.3 percent, and didn’t expect it to drop below 7 percent until 2014.
In the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area, the unemployment rate jumped from 3 percent in April 2008 to 5.6 percent in April 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Unemployment’s going to continue increasing for a long time, and it won’t come down fast,” he said.
