Tulsa-area foreclosures decreased significantly in July, though the year-to-year drop was eclipsed by the rapidly falling national average.
RealtyTrac Inc. estimated that 491 homes were repossessed last month in metro Tulsa.
The resulting foreclosure rate of one for every 829 households was down 22.1 percent from June and 14.2 percent from July 2013.
Sheldon Detrick, CEO of Prudential Detrick Realty/Prudential Alliance Realty in Tulsa, said the improved local real estate market has been able to absorb homes that have been foreclosed.
"The supply of available lender-owned properties is nowhere near the level of demand, so it's becoming commonplace to receive multiple offers and to sell them over the listing price," he said.
Last month's national average foreclosure rate was one for every 1,001 households, up 2.4 percent from June but down 31.8 percent from July 2012.
July marked the lowest national foreclosure rate RealtyTrac had recorded in 78 months.
The state of Oklahoma's foreclosure rate of one for every 1,651 homes was down 19.3 percent from June and was 17.5 percent lower than a year earlier. Oklahoma now has the 29th highest foreclosure rate in the nation.
The report from Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac noted that bank repossessions in Oklahoma have increased 126 percent over last year. Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac, said Oklahoma is among the last markets to see a spike in filings as banks turn their attention to less active markets.
"While foreclosures are continuing to boil over in a select group of markets where state legislation and court rulings kept a lid on foreclosure activity during the worst of the housing crisis, the foreclosure boil-over markets are becoming fewer and farther between as lenders have caught up with the backlog of delayed foreclosures in some of the states with the more lengthy judicial foreclosure process," he said.
Blomquist said Oklahoma is among the states with foreclosure rates at or below where they were when the real estate bubble burst.
Florida had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation in July, with one for every 328 homes, followed by Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut and New Mexico.
Nevada, which had been the leading state for foreclosures for many months, fell to No. 7.
Robert Evatt 918-581-8447
robert.evatt@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Metro foreclosures down in July
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