Aubrey Cohen has really been picking up the pace lately, with the new blog and an increased number of articles. One of his latest articles mentions that the rate of new foreclosures is actually recently increasing in Seattle at a faster rate than the country as a whole.
Although the Seattle area continued to have fewer foreclosure filings and smaller annual increases in filings in September than elsewhere in the U.S., the gap has narrowed somewhat since August, according to a report Thursday.
Area filings increased nearly 31 percent in September from a year earlier and 6 percent from August, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif., company that tracks foreclosure activity. U.S. filings were up 99 percent from a year earlier, but declined by more than 8 percent from August’s 32-month national high.
Of course, the increase is only in month-to-month statistics, which aren’t especially useful for determining long-term trends. We’ll keep our eye on the foreclosure rate to see if it turns into a pattern.
(Aubrey Cohen, Seattle P-I, 10.11.2007)