By KEVIN POST Press of A.C. Business Editor | Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Foreclosures filings in southern New Jersey in February were again down from the previous month, but generally remained higher than the same period a year ago.
Atlantic County’s 185 foreclosures in February was 38 percent fewer than January’s 297 but still more than the 155 in February 2009, according to data released today by RealtyTrac of Irvine, Calif.
Cumberland County had 69 foreclosures in February, down from 107 the month before but up from 55 a year ago. Ocean County’s 310 filings were 36 percent lower than the 483 in January but 17 percent more than the 266 in February 2009.
Cape May County’s 54 foreclosures were down 52 percent from January’s 113, and down 18 percent from 66 a year ago.
Nationwide, foreclosures decreased 2 percent for the month to 308,524, but remained 6 percent higher than February 2009.
Atlantic County continued to have the region’s highest foreclosure rate of one for every 688 homes in the county. Cumberland County was next with one in 809, then Ocean County’s one in 886, and Cape May County, one in 1,904.
All were far better than the national rate in February of one in 418. New Jersey as a whole fared better than the nation with a rate was one in 938.
RealtyTrac said the national year-over-year increase was the 50th in a row, but at 6 percent also the smallest since it began tracking that figure in January 2006.
The company said the winter storms in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic appear to have temporarily slowed the processing of foreclosure paperwork in some states.
Nevada continued its more than three-year grip on the top of the national foreclosure chart with a rate of one filing for every 102 homes. Arizona, Florida and California were next-highest, as usual.