Large numbers of subprime loans, extensive mortgage fraud and large quantities of housing stock place metro Atlanta among the nation's hardest-hit markets in the growing foreclosure crisis, according to a Harvard University scholar.

Mark Duda, the Harvard researcher who is analyzing national foreclosure trends for a study sponsored by the Fannie Mae Foundation, said Thursday that the high foreclosure rates produced by failing subprime loans are costing communities millions of dollars in hidden losses.

"When there's a foreclosure, it causes other problems," Duda said.

Especially when foreclosures are clustered in concentrated areas, cities incur costs for combating crime fostered by vacant structures, dropping property values on surrounding homes and loss of tax revenue.

In Georgia, failing subprime loans also boost the per capita rate of Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings to three times the national rate. The state's short window between the declaration of foreclosure and seizure of the property sends many homeowners to bankruptcy court to stop the sale while they attempt to restructure their debt, Duda said.

Maps compiled by Duda as part of his study, which will be released nationally early next year, show growing concentrations of foreclosure spreading "like a virus" through metro Atlanta between 2001 and 2007, he said.

Using data provided by the Atlanta Foreclosure Report, Duda's maps show high percentages of foreclosure, especially in the southern portions of DeKalb and Fulton counties and the city of Atlanta.

Duda said repairing problems with subprime lending will be challenging.

"There are lot of structural problems with subprime lending itself that are going to make it difficult to solve," Duda said.

The Harvard researcher will join U.S. Treasurer Anna Escobedo Cabral in a forum sponsored by the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta and NeighborWorks America at the Commerce Club, 34 Broad St., NW, in downtown Atlanta at 8 a.m. Friday. The pair will discuss foreclosure and efforts to stem its growth in Atlanta and nationwide.