Seattle Foreclosure Rate Worst in the Nation–Hardly

With all the media blitz the last week over the rising foreclosure rate in the Seattle area one would think we are heading toward Las Vegas territory; not exactly. It is true that Seattle did indeed experience the largest year-over-year increase in foreclosures (%Change from Q3 2009). However, our overall rank for rate of foreclosures is 63rd of the 206 metro areas ranked by RealtyTrac. The Seattle area’s rate of 0.78% of housing units (HU) in foreclosure is only slightly higher than the nationwide rate of 0.72%. Hardly the “worst in the nation.” And our west coast friends (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco) all higher on the scale than we are however their performance over the last year has improved and ours has worsened. Why? Last year the state legislature passed a law that added some new requirements on banks processing foreclosures in Washington State and the numbers slowed greatly in the 3rd quarter last year so of course the spike this year looks odd in comparison to the dip last year; it throws the statistics off. The real story is that foreclosures in Seattle are a lot higher than they have ever been in the past, but they are still nowhere near as common as they are in places like Las Vegas, Miami, and Phoenix. http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report