The Washington area’s foreclosure rate dropped by nearly one-quarter last year, leading the nation’s major markets with the biggest decrease in the percentage of homes that went into foreclosure in 2010. The report by RealtyTrac comes on the heels of Tuesday’s good news for local homeowners that Washington-area home prices rose last year by more than any other major market in the nation.
Metro area
| Foreclosure rate rankings for 2010 | |||
| Foreclosure | Rate | Change from | |
| Jurisdiction | |||
| filings | (1/x) | 2009 | |
| Montgomery County | 4,636 | 1/79 | -30% |
| Prince George’s County | 11,810 | 1/27 | -12% |
| Alexandria | 669 | 1/105 | -6% |
| Arlington County | 616 | 1/167 | -23% |
| Fairfax County | 7,055 | 1/56 | -28% |
| Loudoun County | 2,644 | 1/39 | -27% |
| Prince William County | 5,058 | 1/27 | -34% |
| District of Columbia | 2,153 | 1/133 | -33% |
| 43,962 | 1/49 | -22% | |
| Source: RealtyTrac | |||
According to the Irvine, Calif., foreclosure-tracking firm, one in 49 Washington-area homes went into foreclosure in 2010, a decrease of 22 percent from 2009’s foreclosure rate. The drop leads the nation’s top 20 markets, as most of the country saw foreclosure filings rise last year.
But spokesman Daren Blomquist said that while the local market has traditionally remained stronger than the national average, the decrease in filings is likely slightly exaggerated by the national investigation into the foreclosure process that many say has slowed filings.
“There’s a sharp drop-off in November and December across the country and we believe that’s largely because of the questions surrounding the process,” he said. “So we believe that is going to cause an anomaly in terms of a sharp increase in the first or second quarter of 2011.”
Suburban Maryland could be more susceptible to a spike in 2011 because the foreclosure mediation process the state instituted last summer also slows the filing process for some, Blomquist said.
In addition, President Obama’s State of the Union pledge to freeze discretionary government spending could hurt the local economy, which has been buoyed by federal spending through the recession. But opinions vary as to the degree.
Job losses in the region could trigger another wave of foreclosures, Blomquist said.
However, University of Baltimore economist Richard Clinch said the spending freeze probably will slow growth locally but not force job cuts.
“It isn’t going to lead to a rapid increase in foreclosures but clearly it’s going to take a lot of the wind out of the real estate recovery,” Clinch said.
Northern Virginia’s base of defense-industry jobs could buffer it from a slowdown if the spending freeze excludes defense spending, U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Fairfax, told The Washington Examiner.
Washington’s foreclosure rate ranks 78th in the nation. Foreclosure activity increased in 149 of the nation’s top 206 markets with a population of at least 200,000, according to the report. Las Vegas tops the list with one in nine homes falling into foreclosure.
