I ran the real estate market reports for our local Salem metro area, Marion county cities, and will run Polk counties as well. With the recent news that Oregon held at 12.2% unemployment, I wanted to go ahead and write a new foreclosure post.
You don’t have to be a statistician to see the trending. Clearly distressed properties have increased and while there are normal fluctuations, the baseline level has jumped.
It becomes more obvious when you look at the data, comparing 2nd quarters for the past couple of years. Foreclosure notices went up 17.7% from the 2nd quarter 2007 to 2008. Notices went up 46% from 2nd quarter 2008 to 2009. That is an astonishing rate. Now those bargain hunters out there are trying to figure out where these homes are because they aren’t on the MLS. Some of these homeowners will be successful in avoiding a short sale and foreclosure. Those homes will never make it to the real estate market.
With our 12+% unemployment rate, whether or not these rates continue to go up will solely depend on how well homeowners saved for a rainy day. If they didn’t save well, then I would expect to see prices continue to drop as short sales and foreclosures put downward pressure on home prices.
I figure we’ll see the fallout from our unemployment rate this fall.
This data used to create these graphs is from information provided by Fidelity National Title Company. If you want to watch the short sale/foreclosure market, contact me to get on the distressed property list.
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