The list of foreclosed homes in Utah declined in October compared to September, but the level of foreclosures in the state is still high, based on a report released this week by a real estate research firm.
Additionally, foreclosure filings across Utah increased by almost 33 percent compared to filings in October last year, much higher than the nationwide increase rate of 19 percent. Analysts cited unemployment as the major reason for the increase in foreclosures.
Over 2,400 residential units in Utah were notified of foreclosure actions in October, representing one out of every 385 units. Nationwide, over 332,000 housing units were hit with foreclosure filings.
According to foreclosure researchers, the drop in foreclosure actions in Utah and in many other states in October compared to September was largely due to the intensified efforts of lenders to modify distressed mortgage loans to be able to comply with federal mandates.
There are also a lot of lenders holding back on their foreclosure actions on defaulting borrowers because they do not want to incur maintenance costs and other costs such as insurance premiums and property taxes.
In Utah, lenders repossessed 761 residential units and added them to their list of foreclosed homes. Nationwide, lenders took back over 77,000 units.
For the 34th consecutive month, Nevada topped the foreclosure rate chart for all states. California, Florida and Arizona were still in the top four, followed by Idaho, Illinois, Michigan and Georgia. Completing the top ten were Maryland and Utah.
Utah however improved its monthly rate change to 34.7 percent, much better than the nationwide rate of 3 percent.
Among metro areas, the Las Vegas area had the highest foreclosure rate in October. One out of every 68 houses in the city got hit with a foreclosure action, more than 5 times the nationwide average foreclosure rate. California cities dominated the top-ten list, with Vallejo and Modesto second and third in ranking and five other California cities in the list.
Housing analysts said that despite the declines, foreclosures remain at their high levels. Many of them even expect more foreclosures in the coming months because of the scheduled resetting of flexible rate mortgage loans, the rising number of foreclosures in high-cost neighborhoods and the continued rise in unemployment rates.
Additionally, since September, only around 1,700 loan modifications out of 650,000 trial loan modifications were made permanent and given much better chances to avoid list of foreclosed homes.
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