It’s time once again to expand on our preview of foreclosure activity with a more detailed look at August’s stats in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties. First up, the Notice of Trustee Sale summary:
October 2012
King: 909 NTS, up 141.8% YOY
Snohomish: 537 NTS, up 237.7% YOY
Pierce: 642 NTS, up 168.6% YOY
All three counties are up quite a bit from a year ago, but since last year foreclosures were unnaturally plunging in response to more changes in state law. No doubt we’ll see news stories freaking out about how much worse Seattle’s foreclosure situation is than the rest of the country. Just like last time, these stories will totally miss the point.
Here’s your interactive Tableau dashboard updated with the latest foreclosure data:
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 922 households, Snohomish County had 1 NTS per 514 households, and Pierce had 1 NTS for every 505 households (higher is better).
According to foreclosure tracking company RealtyTrac, Washington’s statewide foreclosure rate for October of one foreclosure for every 912 housing units was 17th highest 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:
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.