It’s time once again to expand on our preview of foreclosure activity with a more detailed look at February’s stats in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. First up, the Notice of Trustee Sale summary:
February 2011
King: 923 NTS, up 28% YOY
Snohomish: 465 NTS, up 20% YOY
Pierce: 540 NTS, up 3% YOY
Still on the rise in King and Snohomish, and flipping from slightly down to slightly up in Pierce.
Here’s your interactive Tableau dashboard updated with the latest foreclosure data:
After last summer’s big surge, things have settled down, but appear to be on a continued upward trend. When will we ever see foreclosures start to mark sustained drops? Who knows!
The percentage of households in the chart above is determined using OFM population estimates and household sizes from the 2000 Census. King County came in at 1 NTS per 889 households, Snohomish County had 1 NTS per 591 households, and Pierce had 1 NTS for every 583 households (higher is better).
According to foreclosure tracking company RealtyTrac, Washington’s statewide foreclosure rate for February of one foreclosure for every 642 housing units was 14th hightest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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.
Hit the jump for a larger version of the chart that shows the percentage of households in each county receiving a foreclosure notice each month:
You can see the resumed upward trend a little better in the large version of this chart. 2011 will be interesting if the economy continues to “recover” but foreclosures just keep on increasing.
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, hit this chart and drag the date slider to its full range. 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.