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Connecticut Metro Areas In Middle Of Foreclosure Pack

Las Vegas Is The Biggest Loser On Nationwide List

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

July 29, 2010

Homes hit with foreclosure filings in Connecticut's four largest metro areas surged in the first half of the year, but the areas were in the middle of the pack nationwide when it came to how those filings were spread out over all households in those areas, according to new report to be released today.

The hardest hit, the New Haven- Milford area, saw properties with filings jump 12 percent for the first six months of 2010 to 3,736, compared with the previous six months and 45 percent higher than the first six months in 2009, according to a report from RealtyTrac.

That amounts to 1 in every 94 households in the New Haven-Milford area, ranking it 98th among 206 metro areas in the country with a population of 200,000 or more. The ranking is from the highest to the lowest.

That compares with 1 in 78 households for the country as a whole. The metro area with the worst rate was Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., with 1 in 15, while the healthiest was Utica-Rome, N.Y., with 1 in 4,895.

In Connecticut, the Hartford- West Hartford- East Hartford metro area had 1 filing for every 133 households, placing the area at 126 in the ranking.

That metro area also had a 12 percent increase in filings, rising to 3,705 in the first half of 2010, compared with the previous six months and a 47 percent jump compared with the same six months in 2009.

RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure trends nationwide, releases monthly reports for the nation and each state. RealtyTrac reports foreclosure trends in the largest metro areas quarterly.

Each of the four metro areas in Connecticut saw increased filings in the first six months of the year, compared with the previous six months and the same period in 2009. Three-quarters of the metro areas in the report saw year-over-year increases, according to RealtyTrac.

James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer, said there are some early signs that foreclosure activity may have peaked in some of the country's hardest-hit metro areas.

"The fragile stability achieved in many local markets hinges on improvements in the underlying economy, specifically job growth," Saccacio said. "If unemployment remains persistently high and foreclosure prevention efforts only delay the inevitable, then we could continue to see increased foreclosure activity and a corresponding weakness in home prices in many areas."

In Connecticut, the unemployment rate barely budged in June, edging down slightly to 8.8 percent. Employers in the state remain reluctant to add jobs.

In June, an economist from Moody's Economy.com forecast that the Connecticut house sale prices could suffer a slight "double dip" in the next year, as the inventory of foreclosed properties peaks and reverses some recent price gains in the market.

In the Bridgeport- Stamford- Norwalk metro area, properties with filings rose to 3,598, a 13 percent increase compared with the previous six months and 55 percent higher than the same six months in 2009. That amounted to 1 filing for every 98 households.

In the Norwich- New London metro area, properties with filings rose to 925, a 13 percent increase compared with the previous six months and 61 percent higher than the same six months a year ago. That was 1 filing for every 127 households.