Foreclosure Rates in Arizona are down for both the State and its Major Metro areas Remaining Lower than the National Average.
Foreclosure Rates in Arizona are down.
That comes from the latest CoreLogic LPI report looking at foreclosure rates, and serious delinquency rates and 30-day delinquency rates. Arizona, and its major metro areas are below already-declining national averages in all three categories. The report looks at year-to-year rates from January 2017 to January 2018.
Arizona’s delinquency and foreclosure rates are lower than the national average, a pattern that follows from last year even as the rates reduce nationally. The state’s own percentages also dropped marginally from numbers last year in Arizona.
Nationally, the foreclosure rate is 0.6 percent. In Arizona, the foreclosure rate is just 0.2 percent statewide. That’s the same in metro Phoenix, while Tucson’s foreclosure rate is 0.3 percent.
Tina Tamboer, a senior housing analyst for the Cromford Report, said the low rates, especially rates below the national average, are a positive for the local market.
Tamboer said the low rates, especially in a seller’s market, mean prices are meeting the level of demand in the market.
Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said most of the country has seen lower rates for both foreclosures and delinquency.
“Declines in the unemployment rate have supported a rise in income, and home-price growth has built home equity,” Martell said in a statement. “These two economic forces coupled with high-quality underwriting have lowered overall delinquency rates.”
For delinquencies, Arizona saw a decline in 30-day or more delinquent rates to 3.1 percent, and serious delinquent rates are at 0.9 percent. In Phoenix, the delinquency rates are just below the statewide rates at 2.8 percent rate for 30-day and 0.8 percent for serious delinquency. Tucson’s 30-day and serious delinquent rates are 3.7 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
All of those are lower than the national averages of 3.9 percent for 30-day delinquencies and 2.1 percent for serious delinquencies.
“It’d be very sad to see someone foreclose in today’s market,” Tamboer said, adding people generally could sell instead to pay off the mortgage.
Because Arizona is a non-judicial foreclosure state where lenders can foreclose without going to court, Tamboer said Arizona was hit particularly hard by foreclosures in the Great Recession. However, because foreclosures are not dragged out in court, the state was able to recover faster after the initial onslaught.
Tamboer also said the lack of foreclosures is forcing investors to look to more traditional avenues to buy up below-market properties.