RealtyTrac, a premier source for foreclosure information,  has released January 2012 foreclosure data statistics. 

The top 10 states with greatest foreclosure discounts (typical foreclosure price compared to non-foreclosure sales) included:

Largest Foreclosure Discounts January 2012

Rank	State	Foreclosure Discount
1	Massachusetts	53%
2	Massachusetts	49%
3	Connecticut	48%
4	Illinois	43%
5	Pennsylvania	40%
6	Louisiana	40%
7	Oklahoma	39%
8	Delaware	39%
9	Arkansas	38%
10	Ohio	38%

Source: RealtyTrac
www.realtytrac.com/trendcenter

I found it interesting when these states are compared to the states having the greatest incidence of foreclosures per number of dwellings.  As shown in the table below, in January, one in every 198 homes had a foreclosure filing in Nevada—yet Nevada did not make the top-ten list of the largest foreclosure discount.  Only two states made both of the lists—Delaware and Illinois.  What this says is that there is more to pricing of homes than just foreclosures.  It may include supply and demand, general economic conditions (read that as job growth or losses) or a multitude of other issues.  I believe this illustrates the importance of using local experts in the real estate brokerage side as they are ultimate specialists in their respective markets. As a former appraiser, I always believed that the real estate agent and broker had a superior insight into the market and pricing since they saw fist-hand the motives of the buyer and seller.

Highest Foreclosure Rates January 2012

Rank	State	Disclosure * Filings Per Number of Homes
1	Nevada	198
2	California	265
3	Arizona	325
4	Georgia	328
5	Michigan	354
6	Florida	363
7	Illinois	369
8	Delaware	373
9	Colorado	523
10	Indiana	555
	USA	624

Source: RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac also reports foreclosure activity levels by state   (these are foreclosure filings and not necessarily actual foreclosures).  California, for example, had the greatest number of filings last month at 51,584.  That is not surprising given that California is also the most populous state with an estimated 37.3 million people in 2010.  While Texas is 67.5 percent of the population of California (25.1 million people in 2010), it had just 9,085 foreclosure filings in January 2012—less than a fifth that of California.  This proves my conjecture that there is no such thing as a national real estate market.

You can sign up for a complimentary Foreclosure Activity Report from RealtyTrac.

Ted

Tags: Foreclosure • real estate trends • top 10 list