Tulsa World: Foreclosure rate improves

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Foreclosure rate improves
May's performance ends two months of worsening conditions.

By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer
Published: 6/13/2008 2:11 AM
Last Modified: 6/13/2008 2:30 AM

May's performance ends two months of worsening conditions.

The number of new Oklahoma foreclosures eased significantly in May, as 30 percent fewer were filed than in April.

Last month's tally of 1,213 foreclosures was 30.7 percent above May 2007, though it showed significant improvement from the 58.7 percent year-over-year increase in April, according to RealtyTrac, a real estate data service. Oklahoma's foreclosure rate is now one for every 1,325 households.

Oklahoma dropped to 29th in RealtyTrac's ranking of states with the highest foreclosure rates, down from 22nd highest in April.

The performance ended two months of worsening conditions and again put Oklahoma's change ahead of the nation as a whole. U.S. foreclosures last month were up 7.36 percent from April and 48.32 percent from May 2007, for a foreclosure rate of one for every 483 households.

John Mabrey, executive vice president of Citizens Security Bank, said the relative strength of the local economy is likely keeping foreclosure numbers from escalating. However, there are fewer new home loans being issued due to tightening credit standards.

"It's not as easy for people to get home loans as it was previously," he said.

Kevin Wheeler of Southern Hills Mortgage Inc. said there wasn't anything in particular in May that would account for the drop, though foreclosures on homes built speculatively may boost filings in the near future.

"I don't think we've seen the true number of foreclosures Tulsa will get yet," he said. "It may be a year and a half before we get to the bottom."

James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, noted that the national increase was the third straight month-to-month increase and the 29th straight month with a year-over-year increase. He also said it's difficult to tell if foreclosures have finally hit a plateau.

"The nationwide rate of increases for default notices and foreclosure action notices slowed in May, with default notices up just 1 percent from the previous month and auction notices down 3 percent from the previous month," he said. "However, bank repossessions continued to surge in May, posting a double-digit percentage increase from the previous month and more than twice the number reported in May 2007."

Foreclosures in May

	Total	Foreclosure rate	% changes from April 2008	% changes from May 2007
U.S.	261,255	1 foreclosure per 483 households	7.36	48.32
Oklahoma	1,213	1 foreclosure per 1,325 households	-30.41	30.71

Source: RealtyTrac

Robert Evatt 581-8447
robert.evatt@tulsaworld.com
By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer

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