Foreclosures drop in Md. for second month in row 

Posted: 12:13 am Thu, December 10, 2009
By Robbie Whelan
Daily Record Business Writer

For the second month in a row, foreclosure filings in Maryland dropped in November, marking what could be the start of a trend toward recovery for the state’s troubled housing market.

The state saw a 4.4 percent drop in filings compared to October, but the foreclosure rate is still 83.6 percent higher than it was a year ago, according to numbers released Thursday by Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. With one in every 364 homes in some state of the foreclosure process, Maryland has the ninth-highest rate of foreclosure in the country, unchanged from last month.

Nationally, the November foreclosure rate fell 8 percent from October, but was still 18 percent higher than November 2008. That is a marked cooling-off from the dog days of July, when 360,000 new foreclosure filings set a record and represented a jump of more than 30 percent in the year-over-year rate, sending housing officials across the country scrambling for an explanation.

“Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market — foreclosures and home value depreciation,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a statement. “This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years.”

Home sales data for November have not yet been released, but October trends were positive for state lawmakers worried about the foreclosure rate. Reports showed a 36 percent jump in number of home sales, despite a nearly 6.5 percent drop in prices. Lawmakers and market watchers have attributed these stats to a rush of first-time homebuyers seeking an $8,000 tax credit on the purchase of their homes, and a glut of housing inventory on the market, much of it foreclosed or abandoned.

The November numbers show Prince George’s County once again posting the highest number of filings, with 2,089, followed by Montgomery County with 952, Baltimore City with 832 and Baltimore County with 697. Statewide, one in every 364 homes is in foreclosure, which compares unfavorably with the national rate of one in 417.

Also for the second month in a row, several of Maryland’s more rural counties posted high foreclosure rates. Charles County, for example, had a rate of one home in every 220 in foreclosure, and Frederick County had one in every 285 homes in foreclosure.

Home sales numbers, which often provide a window into likely changes in the state’s foreclosure rates, are also expected this week.