Denver area nears foreclosure record
John Rebchook, Rocky Mountain News
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
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Almost 16,000 real estate foreclosures have been filed in the Denver area in the first 10 months of the year, 30 percent more than during the same period last year.
And by the end of this month, an 18-year record will be eclipsed, with more homes being lost to lenders than ever before.
"I think that will have to happen," said Mary Wenke, Arapahoe County's public trustee. "There's no sign of them letting up. If they dip for a couple of days, they come right back."
However, while the record 17,122 foreclosures will be topped by the end of November, a smaller percentage of total mortgages will be in default because of population growth and a higher home ownership rate than in 1988.
A recent analysis by the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association, for example, showed that 3.1 percent of mortgages were in foreclosure in 1989, compared with 1.2 percent currently.
Through October, 15,776 foreclosures have been filed in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties. That is less than 8 percent off the all-time record set during the energy bust of the late 1980s. At that time, homes could be purchased for as little as 20 cents on the dollar, which is not the case today.
"It's not nearly as bad as it was in 1988 and 1989," said Sandy Hume, Boulder County public trustee.
However, that is little comfort if you are losing your home today.
"It is just one horror story after another," Hume said.
Experts blame no downpayment loans, "creative" financing, overbuilding, over-appraised homes and outright fraud as contributors to the growing foreclosure problem.
Wenke noted that her office this month already has opened 419 foreclosures, and she expects about 576 for October. That would mean the other six counties would need to open 771 foreclosures to top the previous record.
Foreclosures by county
County Oct. 2005 Oct 2006 YTD 2005 YTD 2006
Adams 274 307 2,694 3,231
Arapahoe 339 532 2,960 3,981
Boulder 64 77 517 662
Broomfield 18 20 106 152
Denver 377 515 3,296 4,289
Douglas 88 84 816 977
Jefferson 176 339 1,744 2,484
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