Utah Enters Top Ten Chart of Foreclosed Homes
April 17th, 2009 by 
Joseph Smith
In last year’s first quarter, Utah was only 18th in RealtyTrac’s chart of states with the biggest number of foreclosed homes in relation to total households. In the same ranking for this year’s first three months, Utah entered the top ten list, with 1 unit in every 151 housing units given a foreclosure filing. Its foreclosure rate represented a 12.47 percent increase from the last quarter of 2008 and a staggering 86.77 percent increase from last year’s first quarter.
Utah foreclosures in this year’s first quarter pushed the state to the 9th place in the top ten list, replacing Ohio. In last year’s first three months, Utah had 1 unit in every 274 housing units hit with a foreclosure filing.
Nationwide, the number of foreclosure filings increased by 17 percent compared to February filings and increased by 46 percent compared to March 2008. According to RealtyTrac, the total number of foreclosed homes in this year’s first quarter was the highest quarterly figure it has recorded since it started tracking and reporting foreclosures in January 2005. Similarly, the March 2009 figure was also its highest monthly number recorded. There were almost 191,000 foreclosed homes and repossessed properties in the first quarter.
RealtyTrac is a California-based enterprise that tracks foreclosed homes and bank owned repossessed properties nationwide from about 2,500 counties.
The highest foreclosure rate in the first quarter still belongs to Nevada, which has 1 unit in every 27 households given a foreclosure filing, more than 5 times the foreclosure rate nationwide. Nevada foreclosures in the quarter increased its rate nearly 111 percent over last year’s first three months.
The second and third states with the biggest foreclosure rates are Arizona and California, with Arizona having 1 unit in every 54 housing units given a foreclosure filing, and California, with 1 in every 58 households hit with a foreclosure filing.
Compared to RealtyTrac’s chart of foreclosed homes in 2008 published in January 2009, three states entered the top ten list, namely Utah, Idaho, and Oregon, replacing Colorado, Ohio and New Jersey.
Housing analysts attributed the increase in number of foreclosed homes nationwide in the first quarter to at least four factors: increase in job layoffs, end of foreclosure moratoriums and the adjustment of Alt-A mortgages that increased monthly payments.
