Passaic County Had Highest Foreclosure Rate in North Jersey
Posted on: Thursday, 10 July 2008, 15:00 CDT
By KATHLEEN LYNN, STAFF WRITER
One in every 695 New Jersey homeowners was in some stage of the foreclosure process in June, a 5 percent increase from a year ago, RealtyTrac reported Wednesday.
In North Jersey, foreclosures were most common in Passaic County, where one in every 369 properties was in foreclosure, far more than in Bergen (one in every 1,612), Hudson (one in every 872) or Morris (one in every 1,086).
Nationally, one in 501 homeowners was in some stage of foreclosure, whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession. That's a 53 percent jump from June 2007.
"June was the second straight month with more than a quarter million properties nationwide receiving foreclosure filings," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, a California company that tracks the foreclosure market nationwide. "Bank repossessions continue to increase at a much faster pace than default notices or auction notices."
Foreclosures have been on the rise because many home buyers got interest-only, no-money-down or adjustable-rate mortgages in the first half of this decade. As their mortgage payments have reset at higher amounts, many of these homeowners are finding they cannot afford to pay. In addition, as home values ballooned during the housing boom, many homeowners borrowed against their home equity, and now find they cannot afford to repay those loans.
Foreclosure activity last month continued to be highest in Nevada, California and Arizona.
In those states, overbuilding during the housing boom in the first half of this decade has increased the inventory of homes for sale.
Ratio of properties with foreclosure filings:
U.S. 1:501
N.J. 1:695
Arizona 1:201
California 1:192
Nevada 1:122
Source: RealtyTrac
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E-mail: lynn@northjersey.com
(c) 2008 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.
