The number of completed foreclosures in Georgia continued to decline in March, following a national trend, according to monthly data from CoreLogic.
Completed foreclosures cover properties that have been auctioned off to a buyer. The data show Georgia had 48,199 completed foreclosures in March, down nearly 16 percent from March 2012. Foreclosures were down about 1 percent from February of this year and nearly 4 percent from January, when there were 50,016 completed foreclosures.
Eugene James of Metrostudy.com, which tracks metro Atlanta housing trends, said the number of foreclosures should continue to drop, partly because as home prices increase fewer people will have a reason to walk away from underwater mortgages – where borrowers owe lenders more than the home’s value.
“Some of the foreclosures were strategic, with people walking away because they were upside down” James said. He added foreclosures have declined across metro Atlanta. “The trend has been going on for so long that it will probably continue.”
Georgia, where nearly 2 percent of homes were in some stage of foreclosure, was No. 5 among the five states CoreLogic says had the most completed foreclosures in March. The others were Florida, which led with 103,000 foreclosures; California, Michigan and Texas.
Nationally, completed foreclosures were also down nearly 16 percent in March from the same period a year ago.
“For 17 consecutive months, foreclosures have declined year over year across the U.S.,” CoreLogic President Anand Nallathambi said in releasing the data. “Although we still have more than a million homes in some stage of foreclosure, this trend, combined with rising home prices, is another signal of a gradually improving housing market.”
Metro Atlanta home prices were up 16.5 percent year over year in February, according to data from the monthly Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index. Local home prices recovered three years of value in 12 months, the report shows.
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