Hundreds fewer homes in Virginia fell into some stage of foreclosure in November than a month before — though many more than in November 2007 — leaving some experts hopeful that the area’s foreclosure crisis has reached its peak.
Others said the dip, which occurred nationwide, represents only a brief hiatus before a rash of delinquencies next year as temporary measures by lenders and governments fail to save floundering homeowners.
Northern Virginia’s most foreclosure-prone counties saw substantially fewer new filings between October and last month, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac, a California company that compiles bank repossessions, auction sale notices and default notices.
In Fairfax County, 1,152 homes had a foreclosure filing in November, a 9 percent drop from October. Prince William County, which has typically led the state in foreclosures, saw 1,014 homes enter the proceedings, 26 percent fewer than the previous month.
The acceleration of new foreclosures in the area seems to have peaked, said John McClain, deputy director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis. He said subprime mortgages, many of which had interest rates scheduled to reset higher after 24 months tapered off nationally in late 2006. The foreclosures caused by those resets will in turn begin to slow down next year, McClain said.
“What we think is that, everything being equal, that beginning in 2009, we will be out of the woods with most of the subprime mortgages,” he said.
The results were not consistent across the Potomac. Prince George’s County, which has seen the highest number of foreclosures in Maryland, saw 1,246 new foreclosure filings in November, a 33 percent increase over October, according to RealtyTrac. The District saw a 52 percent increase with 344 filings.
Montgomery saw a 33 percent drop over October, with only 438 new filings.
RealtyTrac attributes the national slowdown to lenders modifying loans or imposing holiday foreclosure moratoriums, as well as some state laws that have drawn out the foreclosure process.
“There are several indications, however, that this lower activity is simply a temporary lull before another foreclosure storm hits in the coming months,” RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James J. Saccacio said.
He pointed to a troubling trend of homeowners who received loan restructuring to reduce their monthly payment in the first half of the year finding themselves delinquent on their mortgages again.
