(Source: By Chuck Slothower, The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.) FARMINGTON — Foreclosures in San Juan County were on pace to fall well below 2010 levels, a trend that could lend stability to the housing market.
The county saw 264 foreclosure filings through Dec. 21, far fewer than the 342 cases for all of 2010.
2010′s total was a modern record, up from 292 in 2009. In 2006, during the mid-decade real estate boom, San Juan County had 151 foreclosure cases filed.
Housing in the Durango, Colo. area showed similar trends. La Plata County registered 265 foreclosure filings through Dec. 21. That’s significantly lower than the 324 filed in 2010 and the 297 filed in 2009.
“The market is better, and there are definitely more transactions,” said Gina Piccoli, a longtime Durango real estate agent. Year-end numbers will show transactions rose about 12 percent compared to 2010, she said.
“It’s just a sign of the overall indication that the market’s improving, slowly but surely,” she said.
Foreclosure filings spiked to an all-time high in 2010, but Piccoli said foreclosure sales never represented more than about 15 percent of the Durango market.
“Foreclosures in Durango — even though they were pretty high — were never horribly high,” she said. “It really didn’t affect us too much.”
Banks also have been more willing to work with homeowners on short sales, she said.
Nationally, the median existing-home price for all housing types was $164,200 in November, down 3.5 percent from a year ago, according to the National
Association of Realtors.
Distressed homes — foreclosures and short sales typically sold at deep discounts — accounted for 29 percent of sales in November, compared with 33 percent in November 2010.
Housing inventory at the end of November fell 5.8 percent to 2.58 million existing homes available for sale in the U.S., which represents a seven-month supply at the current sales pace.
“Since setting a record of 4.04 million in July 2007, inventories have trended down and supplies are moving close to price stabilization levels,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said in a prepared statement.
Mortgage rates remain very low for buyers who can qualify in the current tight credit environment. According to Freddie Mac, the national average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to a record low 3.99 percent in November.
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