Forclosures declining in South Carolina

South Carolina’s foreclosure rate keeps falling. In November, the rate dropped 0.49% from October, to 2,021 properties. Nationwide, foreclosures in November were down 7%.

That’s significant, according to RealtyTrac, a national tracking firm whose data also is used by The Wall Street Journal to follow foreclosure trends. Foreclosure notices went from one for every 452 homes in the U.S. in October to one for every 488 homes in November. In September, the ratio was slightly higher, at one in every 475 homes.

RealtyTrac is forecasting that the trend will increase in the first few months of 2009.
“Foreclosure activity in November hit the lowest level we’ve seen since June, thanks in part to recently enacted laws that have extended the foreclosure process in some states, along with more aggressive loan modification programs and self-imposed holiday foreclosure moratoriums introduced by some lenders,” RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said.

The state had 2,021 properties in some state of foreclosure in November, compared with 2,031 in October. The October number was a 7.7% drop from September’s numbers.

Those figures put South Carolina at 24th out of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. The states with the highest foreclosure rates were the ones industry watchers have come to expect: Arizona, Florida and Nevada. For comparison, Nevada had 13,962 foreclosures for the month.
But the foreclosure help that some homeowners received after the subprime mortgage market collapsed wasn’t a permanent fix for many homeowners.
The U.S. Office of Thrift Supervisions reports that more than half of homeowners who received mortgage help during the first part of the year are delinquent with their current loans.

For more info, call Randall Sandin with Carolina One Real Estate at 843-209-9667, rsandin@carolinaone.com