August was the first month in 2009 where all three of the key measures of home foreclosures have fallen in the valley. Whether or not that’s an indicator of the Valley housing market stabilizing permanently or temporarily is still unclear.
1. The number of homes foreclosed on by lenders in August in the Metropolitan Phoenix area dropped 26 percent when compared with July of 2009.
2. In August, the number of pre-foreclosures fell 4 percent. Pre-foreclosures are homeowners being notified of a pending foreclosure on their property.
3. And the third key measure, the number of foreclosure homes for sale dropped 6 percent in August. That makes it the lowest number of the year.
While having all three of the key measures drop in one month for the first time this year is a positive sign, it doesn’t mean the housing market in the valley has started to recover.
There are a few factors that could help explain why the number of foreclosures could be dropping in the Valley:
1. Changes to the foreclosure laws in Arizona.
2. Loan modification programs offered by the federal government.
3. The excessive amount of paperwork that lenders are being bogged down with related to foreclosures and loan modifications.
Regardless of the reason why the numbers of foreclosures have fallen, the Valley housing market still has problems and has since the sharp decline since 2007. The values of homes and the number of sales has fallen because record numbers of foreclosed properties have been taken back by the lenders and have been put back on the housing market at discounted prices.
After a record number of foreclosures during the month of July, foreclosures fell to 3,939 in August according to data from the Information Market/Cromford Report. The number of pre-foreclosures dropped to 8,810 and the number of foreclosure homes for sale in the Valley dipped to 4,900.
