Colorado Mortgage Relief: State Slips Behind Nevada in Foreclosure Filings

After leading the nation in foreclosures for eight consecutive months, Colorado dropped to the No. 2 spot behind Nevada, according to a report reported Tuesday by the Denver Post.

Colorado mortgage foreclosure filings slipped 10 percent from the October total, while Nevada’s rose 12 percent, according to RealtyTrac. Last month, 5,051 homes in Colorado - one new filing for every 362 households - entered some stage of foreclosure, up 88 percent from November 2005.

“It’s sort of the tip of the iceberg, and the problems are going to get worse before they will get better,” U.S. Bank regional economist Tucker Hart Adams said. “I think we will see housing prices declining, home sales down and new construction down for another year.”

Among the 200 large metro areas tracked, Greeley had the highest foreclosure rate. In Weld County, 428 properties entered some stage of foreclosure last month, up 13 percent from the previous month. Weld County had one new filing for every 155 households, six times the U.S. average.

Colorado should continue to see improvement relative to the Nevada mortgage market, as well as states such as California, Arizona and Florida, experts believe.

“Nevada, California, Arizona and, to some extent, Florida will continue to move up in the ranking because there were a substantial amount of flippers and home speculators involved. Many used interest-only mortgage products to finance a property. As the market slows down, those speculators would be the first ones to really feel the pain,” said Vectra Bank Colorado economist Jeff Thredgold.

But Adams said the Colorado foreclosure problem - and the downturn in the housing market - is far from over. She warned that its impact will be felt throughout the rest of the economy.

“Housing prices are continuing to go down, and even the people who hang on to their houses have to struggle to do it and cut back in other areas,” Adams said.