Foreclosures at a four-year high in PA
Friday, August 14th, 2009
By: Elizabeth Fiedler
efiedler@whyy.org
New numbers from the foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. show the number of Pennsylvania homes entering the foreclosure process reached a four-year high in July. More than 5,300 Pennsylvania homes received at least one foreclosure filing last month. That was up more than 7 percent from June.
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Econsult Corporation Vice President Kevin Gillen monitors Philadelphia area real estate markets.
Gillen: With the deteriorating economic news and rising unemployment it's well established that there's lag between the economic performance and unemplyoment and subsequent foreclosures as people lose their jobs or take pay cuts and so forth. So given the general economic climate I'm not surprised that foreclosures rose here in Pennsylvania.
There is some good news: Gillen says house prices in the Greater Philadelphia Area slowed their decline this past spring. which means hopefully fewer people will owe more money than their house is worth – one situation that can prompt people to default on their mortgage.