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Philadelphia Region: Pace of Foreclosed Houses Slows Down

May 18, 2009

Unlike other housing markets, the pace of foreclosed houses in the Philadelphia region, which consists of 13 counties, has slowed down in April, based on RealtyTrac’s foreclosure data.

The number of houses in the region in various stages of foreclosure declined by 7.4 percent compared to March filings.

The region’s foreclosure rate in April was one house in every 827 housing units, well below the nationwide pace of one in every 374 housing units, which has been the biggest monthly foreclosure rate since 2005, the year RealtyTrac started monitoring foreclosures.

RealtyTrac groups the following places as areas of the 13-county Philadelphia region: southern part of Delaware and New Jersey and the Pennsylvania counties of Philadelphia, Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery.

Philadelphia, with one in every 570 housing units getting a foreclosure filing, had the biggest foreclosure rate. It also contributed 1,188 foreclosure filings to the 4,943 total of foreclosures and foreclosed houses in the region.

The other counties with the biggest foreclosure rates were Gloucester, Burlington, Camden, Delaware, Montgomery, Bucks and Chester.

Montgomery County, with a foreclosure rate increase of 77 percent, had the biggest rate increase while Chester County had the lowest as its increase rate of 66 percent. Philadelphia’s filings decreased by 2.4 percent compared to March, but increased by nearly 59 percent compared to April 2008.

In Delaware County, the foreclosure rate has risen by over 195 percent compared to April last year while Chester County’s rate has declined by almost 82 percent over the same period.

The Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors’ president Al Perry said that the city of Philadelphia was not as battered as other large cities by foreclosed houses because the peaks of Philadelphia’s housing market has not been as high as those in other big cities.

He further explained that the real estate business is local, so one can still find opportunities in the Philadelphia market despite difficulties in other housing markets.

Perry said the national foreclosure numbers for April are not great, but they are still manageable.

James Saccacio, chief executive of RealtyTrac, said a big portion of the foreclosure figures in April were delinquency and auction stages. He said the pace of bank repossessed foreclosed houses declined on annual and monthly basis to their slowest pace since March 2008.

Saccacio added that the April data indicates that mortgage lenders have been starting their foreclosure actions that were delayed by foreclosure moratoriums. He expects an increase in bank repossessed foreclosed houses as the default notices turn into actual foreclosures.

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