February 13, 2008
By GRETA GUEST
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Wayne County ended 2007 at the top of a list it would rather avoid.
It had the highest foreclosure rate among the nation's 100 largest metro areas for the year, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.
It beat out Stockton, Calif., and Las Vegas, which held second and third place on the list.
But unlike the two western metro areas, metro Detroit's foreclosure problem is a bit more intractable, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
RealtyTrac defines metro Detroit as Wayne County.
"Most of the metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates were either cities like Stockton and Las Vegas, which experienced meteoric growth and unsustainable price appreciation over the past few years, or cities like Detroit, which are undergoing a more widespread economic downturn along with higher unemployment rates," Saccacio said.
Michigan's unemployment rate in December was 7.6%.
The state ranked third nationwide for foreclosures last year, with 1.9% of Michigan households in some stage of foreclosure.
Foreclosure filings that include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions rose 75% nationwide in 2007 with 2.2 million filings on 1.28 million properties, according to RealtyTrac.
The 2007 rate for Wayne County was 4.9% of households entering some stage of the foreclosure process. That was a 68% increase from 2006 and about 4.8 times the national average of about 1% of households in some stage of foreclosure.
Wayne County had 72,616 foreclosure filings on 41,273 properties during the year.
The area including Warren, Farmington Hills and Troy ranked No. 17 on the list with more than 2% of households in the foreclosure process. The area had 30,378 filings on 21,607 properties, RealtyTrac said.
Tom Varner, associate broker and manager of Century 21 Elegant Homes in Southfield, said he hoped foreclosures soon would be cleared from inventories, as they are slowing sales of other properties and diminishing property values.
Varner said that of his 45 total residential listings, 30 of them are bank-owned foreclosed properties. His office, which has 54 agents, is handling about 360 listings, and 30% of them are foreclosures.
"I think we are going to have a very similar year this year," Varner said. "Until we get rid of the bank properties that are out here, we are going to continue to have the same problems. The foreclosed properties are just leveling our equity that we have built up over the years."
By GRETA GUEST
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Wayne County ended 2007 at the top of a list it would rather avoid.
It had the highest foreclosure rate among the nation's 100 largest metro areas for the year, according to RealtyTrac Inc. of Irvine, Calif.
It beat out Stockton, Calif., and Las Vegas, which held second and third place on the list.
But unlike the two western metro areas, metro Detroit's foreclosure problem is a bit more intractable, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
RealtyTrac defines metro Detroit as Wayne County.
"Most of the metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates were either cities like Stockton and Las Vegas, which experienced meteoric growth and unsustainable price appreciation over the past few years, or cities like Detroit, which are undergoing a more widespread economic downturn along with higher unemployment rates," Saccacio said.
Michigan's unemployment rate in December was 7.6%.
The state ranked third nationwide for foreclosures last year, with 1.9% of Michigan households in some stage of foreclosure.
Foreclosure filings that include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions rose 75% nationwide in 2007 with 2.2 million filings on 1.28 million properties, according to RealtyTrac.
The 2007 rate for Wayne County was 4.9% of households entering some stage of the foreclosure process. That was a 68% increase from 2006 and about 4.8 times the national average of about 1% of households in some stage of foreclosure.
Wayne County had 72,616 foreclosure filings on 41,273 properties during the year.
The area including Warren, Farmington Hills and Troy ranked No. 17 on the list with more than 2% of households in the foreclosure process. The area had 30,378 filings on 21,607 properties, RealtyTrac said.
Tom Varner, associate broker and manager of Century 21 Elegant Homes in Southfield, said he hoped foreclosures soon would be cleared from inventories, as they are slowing sales of other properties and diminishing property values.
Varner said that of his 45 total residential listings, 30 of them are bank-owned foreclosed properties. His office, which has 54 agents, is handling about 360 listings, and 30% of them are foreclosures.
"I think we are going to have a very similar year this year," Varner said. "Until we get rid of the bank properties that are out here, we are going to continue to have the same problems. The foreclosed properties are just leveling our equity that we have built up over the years."
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