Statewide foreclosure filings up 5 percent from Q2 2009; rate is nation’s second highest

Arizona reported 50,342 properties with foreclosure filings in the third quarter of 2009, an increase of 5 percent from the previous quarter and almost 25 percent above the level reported in the third quarter of 2008, according to the latest RealtyTrac^® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. One in every 53 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the second highest state foreclosure rate in the nation.

Foreclosure activity in the Grand Canyon State was down 16 percent in September from the previous month to 14,927 properties with foreclosure filings, but remained elevated on a yearly basis, up 15 percent from September 2008. The state’s foreclosure rate was fourth highest in the nation for the month — with one in every 179 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

“Foreclosure activity was up in Arizona for the third quarter although down for the month of September,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The largest increase was in auction notices, which climbed 39 percent during the year. The state had the second highest year-over home price decline behind Nevada. This has led to a huge increase in home sales recently, which may help bring foreclosures down in the future.”

As it has for almost two years now, California continues to lead the nation in total foreclosure activity by a large margin on both a monthly and quarterly basis. For the third quarter, it reported 250,054 properties with foreclosure filings. Florida posted the second highest activity level — 156,924 properties with foreclosure filings. Arizona  was third highest level in the nation. Nevada came in fourth highest, reporting 47,925 properties with foreclosure filings during the quarter, while Illinois tallied the fifth highest total, documenting 37,270 properties with foreclosure filings. The top five states alone represented 58 percent of all foreclosure filings in the nation during the quarter.

For September, the nation’s top 5 states for total foreclosure filings were California (86,337), Florida (55,036), Nevada (18,766), Michigan (16,767), and Georgia (14,972). Activity in the top five states accounted for 58 percent of the nation’s foreclosure total in September.

Pinal County posts state’s top foreclosure rate in third quarter

With one in every 35 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — 3.9 times the national average and 1.5 times the state average — Pinal County posted the highest county foreclosure rate in the state for the third quarter. Maricopa County was a close second, with one in every 42 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — 3.3 times the national average and 1.3 times the state average. Third highest rate was posted by Mohave County, where one in every 62 housing units received a foreclosure filing — 2.2 times the national average.

Five counties accounted for lion’s share of foreclosure activity for third quarter

Foreclosure filings in five counties accounted for 96 percent of all foreclosure activity in the state during the third quarter. Maricopa County led al counties, tallying 36,643 properties with foreclosure filings for the quarter. Pima County came in second highest, reporting 4,430 properties with foreclosure filings. Pinal County came in third, tallying 3,923 properties with foreclosure filings. Fourth highest for the quarter was Mohave County, reporting 1,640 properties with foreclosure filings. Yavapai County documented 1,508 properties with foreclosure filings, the state’s fifth highest foreclosure total in the quarter.

State a major contributor to nation’s foreclosure total for quarter and September

Arizona accounted for 5 percent of the 937,840 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide for the third quarter, and 4 percent of the 343,638 properties with foreclosure filings reported for September. Total U.S. activity declined 5.4 percent between the second and third quarter of the year, but was up 23 percent from the third quarter of 2008. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in 2005.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month — broken out by type of filing at the county, state and national level. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is filed against a property during the month — which is extremely rare — only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, check out our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

Arizona Top Foreclosure Rates by County – Q3 2009

Arizona Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Q3 2009

Arizona Top Foreclosure Rates by County – Sept 2009

Arizona Top Foreclosure Totals by County – Sept 2009