New 2nd quarter foreclosure filings in Colorado fall nearly 16 percent from last year

Colorado foreclosure filings down in 2nd quarter

DENVER — The number of new foreclosure filings in Colorado has reached its lowest point in more than a year, state housing officials said Thursday.

There were 10,233 new filings in the second quarter, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ Division of Housing said. That’s down nearly 15.7 percent from April-June 2009. It’s also down about 8 percent from the first three months of this year.

For the first half of 2010, foreclosure filings are down 5.6 percent compared with the first half of 2009.

“With foreclosure filings at their lowest point in five quarters, we think this constitutes a future downward trend,” said Pat Coyle, director of the Division of Housing. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that in Colorado at least, new foreclosure filings are inching down in spite of a steady unemployment rate.”

There were 5,885 foreclosure sales at auction in the second quarter. A sale at auction completes the foreclosure process.

The number of foreclosure sales at auction rose 17.7 percent from the second quarter of 2009, but the increase is somewhat misleading because a moratorium that many mortgage investors and servicers placed on processing foreclosures in 2009 dampened figures that year, the housing division said.

Colorado has regularly had 5,000 to 6,000 foreclosure sales each quarter since 2006, Coyle said.

Online:

Division of Housing report: bit.ly/aWB2zd