Foreclosure listing service Realtytrac says fewer homes entered the foreclosure process in January than any other month in more than three years. And a new report from the state Division of Housing shows new foreclosure filings in Colorado appear to be following the same downward trend.
In the last three months of 2010, new foreclosure filings fell to 10,736 statewide. That’s a decline of almost 5% from the same time period a year ago. For the entire year, 2010 saw new foreclosure filings fall 8% from the year before to 42,692. In 2009, the number of new filings surged to a record total of 46,394 for the year, something housing officials blame largely on the economic downturn.
“That was clearly the result of the growth in unemployment that occurred in late 2008 and throughout 2009,” says Division of Housing spokesman Ryan McMaken. “Once the employment situation stabilized a little bit then those filings started to come down again.”
In spite of the decline in new filings, the number of foreclosure sales at auction rose in 2010. McMaken says that’s simply an inevitable follow-up to the high number of new filings in 2009. And he says if new foreclosure filings continue to decline – as they have generally for the past 18 months, then sales at auction will eventually fall too. All metropolitan counties along the Front Range reported drops in foreclosure filings in 2010; but Mesa County on the Western Slope reported an increase of 29.6%.
