NJ Foreclosure Rates Fall

Or should we say plummet? Finally some good news. What should be headline news is buried on page L-10 of The Record. But at least the article titled N.J. Foreclosures fall 40% is above the fold. Lets take a look -

Foreclosure filings fell about 40 percent last month in New Jersey, compared with February 2008, as lenders adjusted to a new state law aimed at helping homeowners in distress, RealtyTrac reported Wednesday.

At the same time, foreclosure filings were up 30 percent nationwide.

...
Daren Blomquist, an analyst with RealtyTrac, said that the drop in foreclosure activity in New Jersey may be a result of the Mortgage Stabilization and Relief Act, which was signed by Governor Corzine in January.

The law would offer state loans to help homeowners stay in their houses; help non-profits buy the homes of struggling homeowners, and lease them back to the owners; and require lenders to suspend efforts to remove people from their homes for up to six months if the owners ask for more time to refinance or arrange a short sale.

...
"Foreclosures are very costly to lenders and servicers," [E. Robert Levy, head of the New Jersey Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Association] said. "You're much better off keeping the borrower in the house.

"Whether this trend is going to continue is hard to say," Levy continued. "A lot of loans that have been modified end up going back into foreclosure."

And from the Star Ledger's article titled Home foreclosures decrease across state -

Foreclosures fell sharply in New Jersey in February, falling at one of the fastest paces in the country even as the national rate of foreclosure increased, according to data released last night by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures.


In some states, such as Nevada and Kansas, foreclosures jumped more than 150 percent over the previous year. Banks repossessed 654 homes in New Jersey last month, while one in every 1,067 homes received some type of foreclosure notice, according to RealtyTrac. That's 34.4 percent fewer than in January and 41.4 percent fewer than February 2008.

...
"The problem is we don't have enough data or information to know why the foreclosure numbers have dropped off," said E. Robert Levy, executive director of the N.J. Mortgage Bankers Association. "We're happy to see that, but the bottom line is there are many reasons why that could be the case."

Nationally, foreclosures increased 6 percent since February. Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida continued to have the highest rates. One out of every 440 homes in the nation received a foreclosure filing. New Jersey ranked 29th in the nation, with one out of every 1,067 homes falling into foreclosure.

...
"In this unprecedented environment there are no such thing as trends that can be applied," he said. "Ultimately we will come out of this but it's not going to happen tomorrow, I'm sorry to say."

Here are the county numbers from RealtyTrac -

Atlantic - 1 in 815
Bergen - 1 in 1595
Burlington - 1 in 1142
Camden - 1 in 950
Cape May - 1 in 1544
Cumberland - 1 in 1005
Essex - 1 in 677
Gloucester - 1 in 1035
Hudson - 1 in 1544
Hunterdon- 1 in 1317
Mercer - 1 in 1300
Middlesex - 1349
Monmouth - 1 in 1357
Morris - 1 in 1883
Ocean - 1 in 1026
Passaic - 1 in 632
Salem -1 in 949
Somerset - 2023
Sussex - 1 in 712
Union - 1 in 708
Warren - 1 in 842


And here are the ten states with the highest foreclosure rates -

1. Nevada - 1 in 70
2. Arizona - 1 in 147
3. California - 1 in 165
4. Florida - 1 in 188
5. Idaho -- 1 in 358
6. Michigan - 1 in 360
7.Illinois - 1 in 369
8.Georgia- 1 in 389
9. Oregon - 1 in 446
10. Ohio - 1 in 451
...
29. New Jersey - 1 in 1067

Good for New Jersey, but not good nationally.