Las Vegas No. 2 last year in rate of foreclosures

Staff and wire reports

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 | 1:23 p.m.

More homes becoming negative equity casualties (1-9-2009)
A year for foreclosures (1-12-2009)
Las Vegas home prices drop to August 2003 levels (12-23-2008)
Street-level view of the foreclosure problem (12-17-2008)
Their dreams shattered, investors left to wonder (11-28-2008)
City works to prevent foreclosures (11-13-2008)
Those empty homes for sale are harming communities (10-28-2008)
State plan could ease pressure of ‘tsunami’ (10-23-2008)
Reid, Goodman tour foreclosed homes, present remedy (10-22-2008)
Bill to protect renters in foreclosure cases (10-20-2008)

Real Estate in Crisis

RealtyTrac data and news release

The Las Vegas metropolitan area ranked second in the nation last year for its rate of foreclosures.

RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm based in Irvine, Calif., which compiled the figures, said 67,223 properties in the area had foreclosure filings, which is 8.89 percent of all properties. Only Stockton, Calif., had a higher rate, at 9.5 percent of all housing units receiving a foreclosure filing last year. Riverside and Bakersfield, Calif., and Phoenix followed Las Vegas to round out the top five.

Nevada had the highest rate of home foreclosures of any state -- about 7 percent of all homes.

Nationwide, more than 2.3 million homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81 percent increase from 2007, with the worst yet to come as consumers grapple with layoffs, shrinking investment portfolios and falling home prices.

Moody's Economy.com, a research firm, predicts the number of homes lost to foreclosure nationwide is likely to rise by another 18 percent this year before tapering off slightly through 2011.

Still, foreclosures — which keep breaking records going back 30 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association — are likely to remain well above normal levels for years to come, and that will continue to keep home prices from rebounding.

"Hitting bottom is a lot different than coming off the bottom," said Christopher Thornberg, a principal with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles.

The RealtyTrac report comes as Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, develop plans to use up to $100 billion of the remaining $350 billion in financial bailout money in an attempt to prevent the foreclosure crisis from getting even worse.

The four states with the highest foreclosure rates last year were Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California.

More than 1.1 million properties in those four states received a foreclosure notice, almost half the national total. And more than one in five of those households were in California, which is coping with massive job losses in the housing and mortgage industries as well as a rapid decline in home prices.

Discussion: 3 comments so far…

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By tvegas

Jan. 15, 2009

4:39 p.m.

Suggest removal

Come on Vegas! We can take number 1 this year!
By rachelmac

Jan. 15, 2009

5:16 p.m.

Suggest removal

Well, at least not #1. To truly stop the decline in the Vegas market, people need to take advantage of the aid out there, from Citigroup & others. In addition to Citi, Fannie Mae, The federal gov't FHA, many states, JPMorgan Chase, Wachovia, and Bank of America/Countrywide are helping over 2 million homeowners keep their homes. More info on the programs here.
needhelppayingbills.com/html/help_with_mortgage.html
By gilrus47

Jan. 16, 2009

1:24 p.m.

Suggest removal

NV & CA both had tremendous amounts of speculators in the upward moving real estate market. It is not unexpected that they would both lead in foreclosers. I had a cabbie brag about the ten homes he owned and was going to make a killing on. It is ashame that home owners had to go down with the investors.