Foreclosure notices in metro Atlanta were up slightly from August to September, but compared to previous years, the general trend continues to improve.
According to a report released Monday morning by Kennesaw-based Equity Depot, the 13-county region saw 2,522 foreclosure notices in September, up from 2,350 last month.
It’s “a little bump from last month, but that was expected given the extra week in the period,” said Barry Bramlett, president and CEO of Equity Depot. “It’s been consistent for 2014 with no real surges up or down.
The numbers this year are a lot lower than those reported in the same months a year ago.
This month’s numbers were 30 percent lower than during September of 2013, when Equity Depot reported 3,599 foreclosure notices. They are 65 percent lower than September of 2012, when there were 7,274 foreclosure notices.
August’s foreclosure notices were 36 percent lower than during the same month of 2013.
Notice of foreclosure does not mean a homeowner will not make up what he or she owes and prevent the home being sold the next month at auction. A precise count of the actual foreclosures is not available, but Bramlett has estimated that roughly half are sold. The number of notices is still seen as a general barometer of stress in the housing market – as well as in the economy.
In general, foreclosure numbers are a clue to where the market and economy are headed. The kind of jump in notices that happened in 2008 and 2009 sends a rush of inventory into the market, which generally lowers home prices. And conversely, when foreclosures decrease, that tends to push prices higher by lowering choices for buyers.
Moreover, foreclosures are a sign of economic stress, signaling that families are unable to make monthly mortgage payments.
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