The number of foreclosure filings in the Washington area ticked up last year after soaring in 2008, according to data released Thursday.
Filings rose to about 56,300 from about 55,400 in 2008, according to the online foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac. The 1.7 percent increase was a stark contrast to the 160 percent jump from 2007 to 2008.
Nationally, filings were made on nearly 3 million homes in 2009, a 21 percent jump from 2008 and a 120 percent spike from 2007.
“As bad as the 2009 numbers are, they probably would have been worse if not for legislative- and industry-related delays in processing delinquent loans,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
Loan modifications and legislation extending the foreclosure process in some states helped contribute to four straight monthly decreases after the peak of 361,000 homes in July, he said.
Locally, the number and rate of foreclosure filings — which include default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — differed significantly by county.
In Virginia, Prince William County’s total filings dropped 26 percent to about 7,500 in 2009. Still, the county maintained a significantly high foreclosure filing rate of one for every 18 homes, compared with the Virginia rate of one in 63.
In Maryland, filings jumped 42 percent in Montgomery County and 34.5 percent in Prince George’s County. The 13,412 filings in Prince George’s constituted 31 percent of Maryland’s total of 43,248 for the year.
The two counties did enjoy a better rate than did Prince William. The filing rate was one in every 55 homes in Montgomery last year, and one in every 24 in Prince George’s.
Still, the sheer volume of local foreclosures remains high — as does the number of sales of foreclosed homes.
Currently, one-quarter to one-third of transactions in the area are “motivated sales,” or sales out of foreclosure, said Quinn Eddins, director of research for Radar Logic, a real estate data analysis company.
Maryland ranked 13th in the country with one filing for every 54 homes, and Virginia was 16th with one for every 63 units.
