9:35am | A real estate report for the third quarter issued today shows California was again among the states with the most metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates in the nation—the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area had the second highest foreclosure rate among metro areas in the nation.
While the report reveals a continuing plague of foreclosures on the housing market, the report also shows that foreclosure rates are down in many of the hardest hit areas, including here in Southern California.
RealtyTrac released its Q3 2010 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report, which shows that cities in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona accounted for all top 10 foreclosure rates in the third quarter among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000.
California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona cities also accounted for 19 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates.
“The underlying problems that are causing homeowners to miss their mortgage payments—high unemployment, underemployment, toxic loans and negative equity—are continuing to plague most local housing markets,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. “And these historically high foreclosure rates will continue until those problems are resolved.”
Las Vegas-Paradise continued to post the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate in the third quarter, with one in every 25 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. had the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 35 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the third quarter.
With one in every 36 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the third quarter, Modesto, posted the third highest metro foreclosure rate despite an 18 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the third quarter of 2009. Other California metro areas in the top 10 were Stockton at No. 4, Merced at No. 5, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 6, Bakersfield at No. 9 and Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 10.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach documented 58,624 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in the third quarter, the highest total nationwide among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more.
A total of 48,849 properties in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area received a foreclosure filing in the third quarter, giving it the second highest metro total. The area experienced a 3% decrease from the previous quarter and a nearly 30-percent decrease from the third quarter of 2009.