Time for our detailed look at foreclosure activity for November in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. First up, the Notice of Trustee Sale summary:
November 2009
King: 783 NTS, up 45% YOY
Snohomish: 387 NTS, up 76% YOY
Pierce: 455 NTS, down 2% YOY
Foreclosure notices bumped back up again in all three counties last month. As we pointed out last month, the foreclosure rate is a rather noisy measure, alternating up and down month-to-month nearly every month. Last month was down, this month is back up again. Also, keep in mind that the effects of SB 5810 (more on that here), are still working their way through the system.
Here’s a simple look at how November’s foreclosures compare to the same month last year in each of the three counties:
Next let’s look at the percentage of households that received a Notice of Trustee Sale (based on household data for each county from the American Community Survey, assuming linear household growth between surveys):
King County came in at 1 NTS per 1,009 households, Snohomish County had 1 NTS per 682 households, and Pierce had 1 NTS for every 656 households (higher is better).
According to foreclosure tracking company RealtyTrac, Washington’s statewide foreclosure rate of one foreclosure for every 835 households was 28th worst among the 50 states and the District of Columbia (up from from 29th last month). Note that RealtyTrac’s definition of “in foreclosure” is much broader than what we are using, and includes Notice of Default, Lis Pendens, Notice of Trustee Sale, and Real Estate Owned.
Following are the usual charts of King, Pierce, and Snohomish County foreclosures from January 2000 through November 2009. Click below to continue…
Back into territory that is higher than any reading before this year.
Same story in Snohomish, with November’s 387 coming in higher than any of the elevated months in 2008.
Pierce County is still floating slightly below where it was late last year, but moved above the levels set in early 2008.
Here’s one more view of Notices of Trustee Sale in the three counties that makes the year-over-year comparison a little easier to visualize:
Note: The graphs above are derived from monthly Notice of Trustee Sale counts gathered at King, Snohomish, and Pierce County records. For a longer-term picture of King County foreclosures back to 1979, refer to the final chart in this post. For the full legal definition of what a Notice of Trustee Sale is and how it fits into the foreclosure process, check out RCW 61.24.040. The short version is that it is the notice sent to delinquent borrowers that their home will be repossessed in 90 days.