January 28, 2010 in Business

Spokane County ranks low for foreclosures in 2009

By The Spokesman-Review
 

The foreclosure rate last year in Spokane County ranked among the lowest in the United States, according to statistics released Thursday by RealtyTrac, which markets foreclosed properties nationally.

Of the 203 markets surveyed by the company, Spokane ranked 181, with one of every 199 homes subject to some type of foreclosure action. The rate fell compared with 2008 and 2007.

Coeur d’Alene was not included in the rankings, but with one home in 38 subject to a foreclosure notice, the city would have placed between No. 47 Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif., and No. 48 Washington, D.C., and suburbs.

The national rate was one home out of every 45, up 21 percent from 2008 and 120 percent from 2007.

Las Vegas, with one home out of eight in foreclosure action, ranked No. 1. Burlington, Vermont, at one per 1,972 homes, was No. 203.

Boise was ranked 24th, with one out of 21 homes receiving a notice.

Portland-Vancouver ranked 61st, and Seattle 86th. The Northwest area with the lowest rate was the Tri-Cities, ranked 194th with one out of 372 homes in foreclosure.

Six comments on this story so far. Add yours!
  • PhiltheBibliophil on January 28 at 5:53 p.m.

    It’s because we have nowhere to go and you gotta live somewhere! Its sure not because of the Great wages paid here!

  • westside on January 28 at 6:12 p.m.

    With housing cheap in Spokane…… there is no where to go up or down..just stagnant You gotta have $300-$600,000 mortgages and lots of them, to be in the high end foreclosure rates. Spokane just doesn’t have the real estate high prices…so of course the rate is super low..lol

  • liarsinnews on January 28 at 7:12 p.m.

    The story forgot to mention that Spokane has a higher percentage than the other cities of homeless, and therefore, other than chasing the homeless from one location to another spot, there is nothing to foreclose on.

  • edmitch on January 28 at 9:59 p.m.

    According to Trulia.com, about 75% of the homes in Spokane County were built prior to 1980 versus about 60% for the rest of Washington. Stated another way, in the rest of Washington 40% of all homes are newly built since 1980 - bigger, nicer, more expensive. But not in Spokane.

    About 54% of residents here are “home owners” and the rest are renters - which is less than about 68% for the rest of the U.S.

    With fewer home owners, and older, less costly homes there are fewer foreclosures in Spokane. No surprise.

  • zelda on January 28 at 10:13 p.m.

    The second foreclosure wave has yet to hit, but it’s already sweeping Seattle. The first wave was foreclosures due to subprime re-sets and other variations of high-risk mortgages. The second wave is home loss because of job loss.

    Thanks for digging out the Trulia statistics, EdMitch. They paint a vivid picture of Spokane’s economy.

  • IHike4Fun on January 29 at 5:14 a.m.

    The lower the foreclosure rate the sooner the recovery in the housing sector. The ‘first wave’ is hardly over. 3-5 year ARMs taken out between 2005 and 2007 will push foreclosures nationwide through 2012. The fact that Spokane county ranked low in 2009 is significant.

You must be logged in to post comments.
Please create a profile or log in here.