(elle_emm)
2010 was a record-setting year for foreclosure filings in the U.S., with almost 2.9 million properties being forecloses on nationwide. But more than half of those filings happened in California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois, or Michigan.
RealtyTrac.com has released its roundup of 2010′s foreclosure numbers, and those five states accounted for 51% of foreclosure filings in the U.S. last year.
California, the most populous state in the nation, was responsible for the most foreclosures (546,669). Florida was second with 485,286. Arizona, the least populous of the five states, was a distant third with 155,878, beating out Illinois’ 151,304. Michigan was fifth with 135,874 foreclosure filings.
Let’s not forget about Nevada, whose 106,160 wasn’t enough to be included in that top five, but still represented a whopping 9.42% of the state’s housing units, making it the state with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
Arizona was second on that list with 5.73% of its housing units facing foreclosure, while Florida’s 5.51% was high enough to make it the third worst rate in the country. California was fourth with 4.08%.
It looks like these rankings could change next year, as all of the top four states saw a decrease in foreclosures between 2009 and 2010. California alone saw a 13.58% drop. Meanwhile, the other states on the list saw dramatic jumps in their foreclosure numbers.
The biggest year-over-year jump was in Georgia, where there was a 23.42% increase in the number of foreclosures. Utah, Illinois, Michigan and Idaho all saw double-digit increases in foreclosure filings last year.
Record 2.9 Million U.S. Properties Receive Foreclosure Filings in 2010 Despite 30-Month Low in December [ReatlyTrac]
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The next bust: Gold.
Nah, I’m going with 1) higher education 2) the dollar
as the next 2 bubbles to burst
higher education for sure
they’ll use smoke, mirrors, and black magic to keep the dollar afloat
House prices are still not affordable where I live: San Francisco Bay Area
$80 a square foot where I live (Arizona). Some of us have actually benefitted from the housing crisis. I got my house for a song.
Still possible that you’ll only be able to sell it for less than a song.
I live in north phoenix and owe about double what the current value of the property is. My gf is buying about as much house for us as I have now but 10years newer and less than half what I originally paid for mine.
Even if property values drop another 10% before they increase, they can’t possibly drop much lower just because of the facts relating to construction costs. Now is a good time to buy a home if you want a place to live. never was a good time to buy a home as an investment.
And that attitude is the biggest problem. Even if people have absolutely no plans in selling there house, they believe they they do not need to pay there mortgage because its no longer worth it. The house is worth what you paid for it until you plan on selling it!
Homes still aren’t affordable in my area either. (Boulder, CO) They aren’t as high as your area, but they are still expensive. Ugh!
Median home price $589000
I forgot to add…
Especially since the median home price for the areas our families live is less than $130,000
Can we please have an edit button…
No surprises. Florida ranked 2: gee go figure
These foreclosures are just ‘cleaning up real estate’. What’s next again, the student loan bubble.
I’ve been looking at properties in Cleveland and it’s incredible how much of a free-fall the market has gone through. A home that was purchased for $85,000 in 2006 was foreclosed on, and is currently on the market for $7000, a decrease in value of almost 92%. Where I live (Canada) hasn’t seen this bubble burst yet, but I have a feeling that the Vancouver area will. Property values are through the roof, and already they’re starting to seeing interest in those high-price properties sharply decline. We may not get hit with the foreclosure epidemic of our neighbors to the south, but in some places, housing prices are likely going to get hit hard fairly soon.
Yea Cleveland has cheap homes now. That’s another reason why I’m moving back to Cleveland. It’s getting to expensive here in Florida.
are there any jobs there?
Chalk this up to a combination of poor consumer protections and opportunistic and greedy regional bank leaders in these states.
And lets not forget idiot consumers that bought a house they could not afford.
Nope consumers are too stupid to be accountable for anything, ever.
I think they should be listed as first on the blame list. It’s your responsibility to know what you can afford. The mentality that “the bank approved me for this much so I can afford it” is ridiculous. I fault the consumers more than the banks.
God help them if they ever find out you can buy stocks on margin.
Yeah? What if you could have afforded the home if you didn’t lose your job?
add in ignorant/greedy buyers and I agree.
Remember, both sides were looking to make a buck in that bubble.
That is why I said consumer protections, but did not specify who they were being protected from – in some cases it’s themselves.
I agree. Everyone’s responsible for everything.
Or at least of some non-zero influence.
Ok ok, so, a butterfly flaps it’s wings….
Well, fine then… a man walks into a bar…
Some states that fared well in the first years after the bust are now having to pay the piper – mine is one of them.
Time to start lookin for your dream home in Detroit. Better hurry before they’re all snatched up!
I’ve read that they are actually razing and unincorporating entire neighborhoods in Detroit. Kind of amazing.
Yes. They need to. The police chief mentioned they just don’t have enough officers to cover the huge area. I forget the numbers, but they had more police for their TINY area than Dallas does to cover the entire county.
And homes are still overvalued in Florida (Orlando). We shopped for homes a year ago, and were surprised at the price of homes, especially those in foreclosure or short sales. Some homes had been sitting vacant for over a year. That’s not a place I want to move into.
I noticed this too. My parents are looking into buying property in Las Vegas ($15,000 for a 4 year-old condo) or Florida. Foreclosed homes, vacant for over a year, are asking $50,000 in the Kissime area. I understand it’s a tourist destination, but if it’s been sitting there for a year, maybe a price decrease isn’t such a bad idea.
So Chris, what you’re saying is that states with more houses had more foreclosures?
I really wish you had focused more on Nevada. The statistic you treated as an side point is really a lot more alarming to me. 10% of Nevada’s homeowner’s were foreclosed on last year. That has to do really depressing things to the value of the other homes.
Also, look for Texas to play catch-up in the next year or two. We’ve certainly felt the falling home prices, but now, with the state shortfalls coming, it’s really going to get bad for some of us.
I don’t think Arizona has more houses than other states – it can’t be in the top 5 of states. So unless you can show some statistical information to back up your claim…. shhhh.
Don’t tell him to shhh, he made a very valid point. The article focuses on the wrong metric. It shouldn’t be any surprise that California had the most foreclosures: it’s the biggest state. It only makes sense to look at this on a per capita (or per housing unit) basis, if you want to compare how hard-hit states are.
California has 5x the foreclosures of Nevada, but it has 12x the housing units.
Exactly. Those five states do have a high percentage of foreclosures, but they collectively make up over a quarter of the US population, so it’s not as extreme as it looks.
Looks like states with over-priced housing and high unemployment.
California alone saw a 13.58% drop. Meanwhile, the other states on the list saw dramatic jumps in their foreclosure numbers.
The % drop may be bogus numbers. The drop in foreclosures may be caused by the robo foreclosures being caught, and found improper. I have read many articles about Florida robo signers being looked into and the process being slowed. I would hope CA and other states are as diligent. If the government is watching what is happening, (robo foreclosure) then the foreclosure process would need to be correct, therefore taking more time and dropping the number being done per year. A more accurate look may include the number of homes that are in default. If this number is somewhat near the foreclosure number then you may be able to say the amount of foreclosures have gone down. If you can not do as many foreclosures this year as you did last year, it may not actually equate to the market getting better. The great thing about spin is that it usually (in most cases) makes things look better than they really are.
These 5 states represent ~27% of the U.S. population.
Thank you. So these states are less than double the national average. Still quite a bit, but less dramatic when the denominator’s provided as you did.
I think you have the photo credit wrong.
With a population of about 85 million, those 10% of all states contain more than a quarter (27.5%) of the population. That’s still not half the population, so it’s still a disproportionate foreclosure rate, but not by as large of a factor as the headline would indicate.
IIRC, these are all “just walk away” states too, aren’t they? California certainly is…
Big drop in foreclosures in those five states because….who’s left to foreclose on?
California, the most populous state in the nation, was responsible for the most foreclosures (546,669).
So some of the most populated states in the country have a larger percentage of foreclosures than less populated states? You don’t say !
/This info is bordering on useless, we need to know what percentage the number of forclosures are in relation to the number of total mortgages in the state.
California, the most populous state in the nation, was responsible for the most foreclosures (546,669).
So some of the most populated states in the country have a larger percentage of foreclosures than less populated states? You don’t say !
/This info is bordering on useless, we need to know what percentage the number of foreclosures are in relation to the number of total mortgages in the state.