Mortgage Foreclosure
By KEVIN POST, Press of A.C. Business Editor | Thursday, April 15, 2010 |
Southern New Jersey foreclosures in the first three months of 2009 were down significantly from the final quarter last year, but still up sharply from the first quarter a year ago.
Atlantic County’s 807 foreclosures was 31 percent fewer than the prior quarter, but 61 percent higher than the period a year before, according to data released today by RealtyTrac.
A similar pattern held in Cape May County, with 297 filings, down 35 percent for the quarter, up 22 percent from a year ago; Cumberland County, 271 filings, down 31 percent, still 23 percent higher than a year ago; and Ocean County, 1,270 filings, 28 percent lower for the quarter, 45 percent higher than the first quarter of 2009.
In the nation as a whole, foreclosures rose 7 percent in the first quarter and were 16 percent higher than the previous year.
James Saccacio, CEO of Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, said there was evidence the increases were in part the result of lenders catching up with a backlog from processing delays and foreclosure prevention programs.
For the 14th consecutive quarter, Nevada had the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation with one in every 33 homes subject to a filing. Arizona’s one in 49 ranked second and Florida’s one in 57 came third.
RealtyTrac ranked New Jersey 22nd, with a foreclosure rate of one in 226 homes.
California accounted for nearly a quarter of the nation’s foreclosures on its own.
Foreclosure rates were lower in southern New Jersey than the national rate of one in 138 homes, according to RealtyTrac.
In Atlantic County, the rate was one in 158; Cape May County, one in 346; Cumberland County, one in 206; and Ocean County, one in 216.