Thursday, September 15, 2011

Foreclosures in Colorado down 31 percent in 2011

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Both foreclosure filings and foreclosure sales at auction in Colorado’s metropolitan counties were down during the first eight months of this year as compared to the same period of 2010. August was the ninth consecutive month during which both filings and sales were down when compared to the same month a year earlier. According to a report released today by the Colorado Division of Housing, foreclosure filings from January through August fell 31.4 percent to 16,481 filings compared to a total of 24,032 filings during the same period last year.

Foreclosure sales at auction were down 18.5 percent during the same eight-month period. There were 11,502 sales at auction from January through August of this year compared to a total of 14,114 during the same period last year.

From July to August of this year, foreclosure filings increased 34.2 percent and sales at auction rose 32.0 percent. Foreclosure filings hit a six-month high in August while foreclosure sales at auction reached only a two-month high.

In single-month totals for August, year-over-year comparisons show that there were 28.9 percent fewer foreclosure filings during August 2011 than during August 2010. There were 15.1 percent fewer foreclosure sales at auction during August 2011 than during August 2010.

Foreclosure filings are the initial filing that begins the foreclosure process, and foreclosure sales totals are the total number of foreclosures that have been sold at auction at the end of the foreclosure process.

All metropolitan counties showed decreases in foreclosure filings in the year-to-date comparisons. Comparing the first eight months of this year with the same period last year, foreclosure filings fell 35.5 percent in Adams County and 34.5 percent in Denver County. The county with the smallest decrease was Pueblo County where filings dropped 15.8 percent, compared year over year.

Foreclosure sales totals also showed declines across all counties surveyed. Comparing the first eight months of this year to the same period last year, foreclosure sales fell 43.4 percent in Broomfield County and 23.7 percent in Weld County. Pueblo County showed the smallest decrease with a drop of 4.8 percent in foreclosure sales.

The Division of Housing’s monthly foreclosure report surveys foreclosure activity in the twelve metropolitan counties of Colorado. The report is a supplement to the Division’s quarterly foreclosure report that includes all counties in Colorado.