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While nationwide figures are trending lower, foreclosure rates in Phoenix, Arizona, are climbing again, according to a new report from the ""W. P. Carey School of Business"":http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu at Arizona State University.
[IMAGE]The university study found that although foreclosures decreased to 30 percent of transactions in the single-family home resale market in the Phoenix area at the end of 2010, that rate shot up to 43 percent in January with little to no change in February.
[COLUMN_BREAK]""We've all been watching to see if the foreclosure rate in late 2010 would carry over into this year, but unfortunately, the good news hasn't come yet,"" says associate professor of real estate Jay Butler, who wrote the report. ""January 2011 showed a reemergence of troubled times, which continued through February.""
Butler said 2010 ended with foreclosure moratoriums, legal challenges to the foreclosure process, and weak economic and job recovery.
""The fundamental uncertainty now is whether the initial months of 2011 represent just a short-term response as the pipeline unclogs after the foreclosure moratoriums or if it's a continuation of a market being dominated by foreclosures,"" said Butler.
More than 8,500 single-family home resale transactions occurred in the Phoenix area last month, and more than 3,600 were foreclosures. In addition, 40 percent of the rest of the transactions were resales of previously foreclosed-on properties.
""Thus, foreclosure-related activity represented a total of 66 percent of the market transactions in February,"" Butler explained.
