The sharp surge in foreclosure filings is expected to rev up Baltimore foreclosure investing, as the year-over-year increase rate for filings in the first quarter was a staggering 141 percent.
In the first quarter, a total of 6,515 homes in Greater Baltimore were notified of default, foreclosure sale or lender repossession, equivalent to one foreclosure for every 170 homes in the area or 0.59 percent of all households in the area. The number of filings, however, fell by 1.32 percent compared to the final quarter of last year.
The unemployment rate in the Baltimore area dropped by 0.7 percentage points to 8 percent in March, posting one of the possible reasons for the quarterly drop in filings.
One indication of the rising number of investors planning to purchase foreclosures homes for sale and then resell them at a profitable time is the ten-percent increase in house sales in the area in February.
A total of 1,177 houses were sold in Greater Baltimore in February, an increase of 9.9 percent from the 1,071 units sold in February last year. The number of days homes for sale stayed on real estate listings also fell from 142 days in February last year to 121 days in February this year.
Within Baltimore City, home sales spiked by 25 percent from 232 units in February last year to 289 units in February this year.
Price decline is another positive factor supporting Baltimore foreclosure investing. The median price for homes sold in Greater Baltimore fell in February to $230,000, a drop of over five percent from the $243,000 median in February last year.
In Baltimore City, the median sales price fell sharply to $115,000, a decline of almost 19 percent from the median during the same month last year. Total house sales in February shot up by 25 percent to 29 units.
In nearby Howard County, considered the third wealthiest among U.S. counties based on median family income, the median sales price dropped by almost seven percent to $336,000. Total home sales, in contrast, increased by nearly 20 percent to 159 units.
In February, the number of properties bought back by lenders through foreclosure auctions in Maryland totaled to 1,054 units, equivalent to 18.4 percent of the 5,732 foreclosure filings posted during the month.
On the whole, the ten-percent surge in the pace of foreclosure in February in Greater Baltimore and statewide and the resulting price declines are factors that support Baltimore foreclosure investing.
John Cutts has been educated in the finer points of the foreclosure market over 5 years.
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