Home foreclosures on rise across state: Foreclosures in April

May 14, 2008 (Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- -- Oklahoma has received a rude reminder that it isn't immune from the effects of the national housing crunch, as the number of April foreclosures in the state increased 20.4 percent from March and was 58.7 percent higher than in April 2007, according to data released by RealtyTrac , a real estate data service

The year-over-year increase approached the national average of 64.7 percent and was far above the monthly increase of 4.4 percent for the nation.

April's 1,743 defaults were enough to make Oklahoma the state with the 22nd highest rate of foreclosure, up from 24th the month before.

Still, the overall foreclosure rate in Oklahoma, now at one for every 922 households, remains much better than the national average of one for every 519 households. RealtyTrac indicated that April had the highest number of foreclosures since the company began reporting the data in January 2005.

Tom Simpson, with Consumer Credit Counseling Service in Tulsa, said the housing issue in the area is getting worse, with a growing number of clients either facing or recovering from foreclosure.

"This is something we're going to be dealing with for quite some time," he said. "We haven't seen all the adjustable

rates hit yet."

Simpson said that when many of his clients' subprime mortgages have reset from the low introductory rate to the higher regular rate, the monthly payment has nearly doubled. One of his clients went from paying $800 per month to more than $1,400.

Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for RealtyTrac, said he is not aware of any specific reasons for April's increase in Oklahoma, or if the higher number of foreclosures indicates a long-term trend.

"Not every state is on the same timeline for how foreclosure trends play out," he said. "Some states that rose fast last year are leveling out this year, and some are accelerating this year."

He added that monthly results for individual states often fluctuate significantly. In March, Oklahoma foreclosures fell 19.2 percent from February.

Simpson said local problems with home payments, while growing, remain well below the woes facing borrowers in states hit hardest by the broken housing bubble.

"There are people losing their homes (in Oklahoma), but it's not as desperate as we've been hearing about in California, Nevada and Florida," he said.

In Nevada, currently the No. 1 foreclosure state, one out of every 146 households is in default.

The state with the best foreclosure rate is North Dakota, with one for every 14,657 households.

Blomquist said the rate of growth in defaults nationally may be slowing, though he predicted that defaults will continue to increase through the end of the year.

Total Foreclosure rate % change from Mar. 2008 % change from Apr. 2007

U.S. 243,353 1 foreclosure per 519 households 4.40 64.75

Oklahoma 1,743 1 foreclosure per 2 households 20.46 58.74

Source: RealtyTrac

Robert Evatt 581-8447

robert.evatt@tulsaworld.com

To see more of the Tulsa World, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tulsaworld.com. Copyright (c) 2008, Tulsa World, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Morning Coffee with TradingMarkets -- Free Newsletter

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index