Toledo-area foreclosures fall 33% in first half of '11

7/28/2011
BY JON CHAVEZ
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

Foreclosures dropped 33 percent in metro Toledo during the first half of the year, compared with the same period a year ago, in line with trends seen elsewhere nationwide, a new study shows.

In Lucas, Fulton, Ottawa, and Wood counties combined, there were 3,069 foreclosure-related filings from January through June, or one for every 98 homes, according to RealtyTrac Inc., a California real-estate data firm. That rate put Toledo at 59th among the nation's 211 metro areas.

Nationally, home foreclosures decreased on a year-over-year basis in 178 of the nation's 211 metro areas with a population of 200,000. In the nation's top 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, all showed decreases.

In Ohio, first-half foreclosures totaled 44,419, or one for every 115 homes. That was a decrease of 26 percent from the same period in 2010 and placed Ohio's foreclosure rate at 12th in the nation.

The state numbers were slightly lower than the national rate of one foreclosure for every 111 homes. In the United States there were 1.1 million foreclosures from January to June, a decrease of 29 percent from the same period a year earlier.

RealtyTrac said that California, Nevada, and Arizona cities accounted for all top 10 metro foreclosure rates, and 15 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates in the first half of the year. Only one Florida metro area posted a foreclosure rate among the top 20 -- Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 12.

Las Vegas-Paradise continued to post the nation's highest metro foreclosure rate, with one for every 19 homes, during the first half of 2011. That was nearly six times the national average.