by Suzanne Stevens, Web Editor – Portland Business Journal
The foreclosure market in Oregon and nationwide improved in 2011, though foreclosures could tick higher this year.
The number of homeowners in Oregon who dealt with some form of foreclosure filing in 2011 dropped 39.14 percent from the previous year and 34.08 percent from 2009.
According to a year-end market report from Irvine, Calif.-based real estate data firm RealtyTrac, there were 22,492 foreclosure filings in Oregon last year, or one for every 73 households. That ranked Oregon No. 14 nationwide in terms of the percent of homes in foreclosure.
The average price of a foreclosed home in Oregon is $171,044. According to the most recent data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service, the median price of Portland home not in foreclosure was $225,000 in November.
Multnomah County had the state’s highest level of foreclosure activity in 2011, with 3,335 foreclosed homes.
Nationally, there were 1.89 million homes in some stage of foreclosure last year, down 34.27 percent from 2010 and 33.17 percent from 2009.
While foreclosure activity in 2011 was at its lowest level since 2007, there could be jump in the numbers this year as lenders continue to work through a backlog of distressed mortgages.
“The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages,” said RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore in a statement. “There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010.”
