Photo by Edward HooverForeclosure activity in the District of Columbia was down 39.31 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same time last year, and down 16.58 percent from the previous quarter, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac.
In March alone, foreclosures were down 12.36 percent compared to February, and down 52.44 from the same month in 2009. This is in direct contrast to the national trend, which saw the number of U.S. foreclosures rise in March, up 18.97 percent from February to March, and up 7.58 percent from last March.
That puts D.C.’s foreclosure rate at 1 out of 1,829 homes in March, roughly on pace with New York state, which has the 43rd lowest foreclosure rate in the 50 states.
The picture for the larger metropolitan area is slightly less rosy. Foreclosures were up 89 percent from February to March in Arlington County, and up more than 100 percent in Fairfax City and Frederick County.
One school of thought on figures like these is that banks are beginning to dump their “shadow” inventory of properties in markets where they believe they can get a fair return on them. Unfortunately this does potentially cloud the waters for any potential sellers, who have to compete with underpriced homes.
RealtyTrac’s data can occasionally end up reflecting blips in the market, so we wouldn’t be shocked to see D.C. foreclosures bumping back up later this year. But assuming the data from January and February won’t change, D.C. had a lower first-quarter foreclosure rate than all but 10 states.
