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DENVER - A new report says Colorado ranked behind only Florida in the rate of property foreclosures in 2005.
In all, 29,630 Colorado properties - 1.62 percent of the state's households - entered some stage of foreclosure last year, according to RealtyTrac's 2005 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released Monday.
Florida reported 121,843 properties, or 1.67 percent of the state's households.
Pete Lansing, president of Universal Lending Corp., blamed part of the reason for Colorado's high rate on the sluggish rise in home values. In Denver, for instance, the median price of a single-family home rose just 4.4 percent over the past year to $246,613.
"If you can't liquidate your property because you've either borrowed too much against it or the value has gone down, foreclosure is your only alternative," Lansing said. "If you're in Phoenix, Ariz., where home values are going up 8 percent a month, why go into foreclosure? Wait a few months, and the property will appreciate enough to allow you to get out of it."
Some of the areas with low foreclosure rates include Southern California and New York, said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac.
"Property values have appreciated to the point where homeowners have flexibility and there's a way out," Sharga said. "Lenders are more flexible because there's more equity."
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Information from: The Denver Post
In all, 29,630 Colorado properties - 1.62 percent of the state's households - entered some stage of foreclosure last year, according to RealtyTrac's 2005 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released Monday.
Florida reported 121,843 properties, or 1.67 percent of the state's households.
Pete Lansing, president of Universal Lending Corp., blamed part of the reason for Colorado's high rate on the sluggish rise in home values. In Denver, for instance, the median price of a single-family home rose just 4.4 percent over the past year to $246,613.
"If you can't liquidate your property because you've either borrowed too much against it or the value has gone down, foreclosure is your only alternative," Lansing said. "If you're in Phoenix, Ariz., where home values are going up 8 percent a month, why go into foreclosure? Wait a few months, and the property will appreciate enough to allow you to get out of it."
Some of the areas with low foreclosure rates include Southern California and New York, said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac.
"Property values have appreciated to the point where homeowners have flexibility and there's a way out," Sharga said. "Lenders are more flexible because there's more equity."
---
Information from: The Denver Post
