Foreclosure statistics
I pulled some data on foreclosure notices from public records. These are only notices and not actual foreclosures. Foreclosure rates jumped from 2001-2002 and never really settled back down to the levels in the 90s (although the 90s data may not be complete and I have no way to check if it is).
March 2007 had a 46.5% increase in foreclosure notices over the average of the previous twelve months.
Prices were flat during the 90's and foreclosure rates were low. Prices were rising when foreclosure rates were high. That surprises me. I would think the rising prices and dropping interest rates would delay foreclosures since people could refinance or HELOC their way out of default. It does make sense to me that the increased risk of our high price to income ratio would increase the mortgage rates.
Foreclosure rates might also be higher due to banking deregulation in 1999. Foreclosure rates started to rise about two years after the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 was passed.
http://banking.senate.gov/conf/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
Here is the data. The first column is the date range. I started looking at each month then switched to six-month time periods. The second column is the number of foreclosure notices over the time period and the third column is the average notices per month for the time period. Enjoy!
March 2007 had a 46.5% increase in foreclosure notices over the average of the previous twelve months.
Prices were flat during the 90's and foreclosure rates were low. Prices were rising when foreclosure rates were high. That surprises me. I would think the rising prices and dropping interest rates would delay foreclosures since people could refinance or HELOC their way out of default. It does make sense to me that the increased risk of our high price to income ratio would increase the mortgage rates.
Foreclosure rates might also be higher due to banking deregulation in 1999. Foreclosure rates started to rise about two years after the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 was passed.
http://banking.senate.gov/conf/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gramm-Leach-Bliley_Act
Here is the data. The first column is the date range. I started looking at each month then switched to six-month time periods. The second column is the number of foreclosure notices over the time period and the third column is the average notices per month for the time period. Enjoy!
date N of TS #/mos Mar-07 386 386 Feb-07 221 221 Jan-07 264 264 Dec-06 247 247 Nov-06 253 253 Oct-06 289 289 Sep-06 250 250 Aug-06 296 296 Jul-06 264 264 Jun-06 299 299 May-06 251 251 Apr-06 233 233 Mar-06 294 294 Feb-06 232 232 Jan-06 249 249 Dec-05 269 269 Nov-05 254 254 Oct-05 219 219 Sep-05 277 277 Aug-05 253 253 Jul-05 243 243 Jun-05 276 276 May-05 268 268 q1 05 1176 294 h2 04 1878 313 h1 04 1942 324 h2 03 2025 338 h1 03 2036 339 h2 02 1907 318 h1 02 1977 330 h3 01 1439 240 h1 01 1363 227 h2 00 1112 185 h1 00 1067 178 h2 99 977 163 h1 99 1002 167 h2 98 970 162 h1 98 1009 168 h2 97 1103 184 h1 97 1121 187 h2 96 1072 179 h1 96 973 162 h2 95 841 140 h1 95 850 142 h2 94 756 126 h1 94 866 144 h2 93 897 150 h1 93 858 143 h2 92 907 151 h1 92 1010 168 h2 91 950 158 h1 91 845 141
Comments
However, I read your post and I didn't see exactly what region these statistics are for: should we all assume it's King County?