Toledo area ranks 53rd in foreclosures, up from 59th

Toledo ranked 53rd among United States metro areas for foreclosures in the first half of 2012. A report released today by real estate data firm RealtyTrac Inc. shows Toledo had 3,191 foreclosure properties listed from January to June.

Toledo ranked 53rd among United States metro areas for foreclosures in the first half of 2012.

A report released today by real estate data firm RealtyTrac Inc. shows Toledo had 3,191 foreclosure properties listed from January to June. That means one in every 94 homes on the market was in foreclosure, according to the report.

The data also show the number of foreclosures increased 3.98 percent from the first six months of 2011. Over the first six months of 2011, Toledo ranked 59th and it had one foreclosure for every 98 homes on the market.

"Ohio is more in the first camp where the foreclosure process has taken longer and there have been more delays," Daren Blomquist, a vice president at Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, said. "Many of those were intentional to give more time to avoid foreclosures. Ohio is one of the first states to institute a mediation program. Homeowners can get mediation with the lender to try and avoid foreclosure. Because of that, we are now seeing increasing activity from a year ago in many markets, including Toledo," he said.

The RealtyTrac Midyear Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report details the number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the RealtyTrac database and ranks 212 metro areas.

Although Toledo's foreclosures increased from the first half of 2011, foreclosures decreased 5.81 percent from the last six months of 2011. National totals showed an opposite trend, with the number of foreclosures decreasing 10.65 percent from the first six months in 2011 and then increasing 1.52 percent from the last six months of that year.

"What we're seeing is the consequences of the way the foreclosure crisis was handled last year in these markets," Mr. Blomquist said.

Across Ohio, the results were mixed, with Columbus, Cleveland, and Canton faring worse than Toledo.

Columbus ranked 39th on the list, with 9,461 foreclosures, or one for every 84 homes. Cleveland was 49th with 10,717 foreclosures or one for every 89 homes. Canton was just above Toledo in 52nd place with 1,919 foreclosures, or one for every 93 homes.

Cincinnati, Akron, Dayton, and Youngstown fared better than Toledo at 69th, 70th, 78th, and 83rd, respectively.

Cincinnati had 8,181 foreclosures or one for every 112 homes; Akron had 2,755 foreclosures or one for every 113 homes; Dayton had 3,141 foreclosures or one for every 123 homes, and Youngstown had 2,038 foreclosures or one for every 127 homes.

"In 2013, we'll start to see a downward trend nationwide," Mr. Blomquist said. "We'd expect to see levels close to normal foreclosure numbers in late 2013 and early 2014 in many markets."

-- Kris Turner