Colorado Foreclosures Climb 40% in 2007

By SANDY SHORE

DENVER -

Colorado's housing industry continued its slide in record territory last year as foreclosure filings climbed 40 percent while consumers struggled to find footing in the turbulent marketplace.

There were a record 39,915 foreclosures, or one for every 45 households in 2007, the Colorado Division of Housing reported Wednesday. That compared with the previous record of 28,509 in 2006, or one for every 58 households.

Industry officials do not believe the market has hit bottom despite the government's steps to ease the turmoil.

Colorado nevertheless fared better than other states last year in some national rankings.

"Our skid isn't as fast as the skid is in the rest of the nation," said Kathi Williams, division director.

During 2007, the highest foreclosure rates were logged in the metropolitan Denver counties of Adams, Denver and Arapahoe and in Weld and Pueblo counties.

Adams County had the highest rate with one foreclosure for every 23 households. Weld had one for every 29; Denver, Arapahoe and Pueblo counties each had one for every 35.

The mountain counties and western Colorado reported the lowest rates. La Plata County reported one foreclosure for every 234 households; Mesa County, one for every 136; and Eagle County, one for every 142.

Statewide, foreclosure sales rose 45 percent to a record of 25,320 last year, the division said.

The market troubles also showed in calls to the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, which offers assistance to homeowners. Since 2006, the hot line's staff has assisted 6,300 families.

Administrator Zach Urban said calls doubled in December.

"Moving into January and February, we're seeing the number of calls up so much that in the next month, we're hoping to double our staff size," he said.

The division did not offer a forecast for 2008, saying it will be too difficult to determine until it can evaluate statistics from the first quarter.

"I suspect we'll probably be at or about this level for the rest of year and maybe look forward to '09 to see a little bit of a recovery," said mortgage industry consultant Michael Rosser, a co-chairman of the Colorado Foreclosure Prevention Task Force.

"There are people coming into the market which is good," he said.

 

Article Source http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/02/20/ap4677961.html