Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2010 Archive > February > Buffalo, Upstate Low on Foreclosure List

Buffalo, Upstate Low on Foreclosure List

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Buffalo and several other Upstate New York metropolitan areas ranked low on a review of foreclosed properties in 2009.

RealtyTrac of California released the results of foreclosure activity for last year, noting that cities in four Sun Belt states accounted for all top 20 foreclosure rates in 2009 among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more.

Out of 203 metros on the list, Buffalo placed 174th with just .053 percent of households — or one of out every 187 homes — involved in some type of foreclosure proceeding.

The list showed Rochester at 166th, Binghamton at 178th, Albany at 190th, Syracuse at 199th and Utica-Rome next-to-last at 202nd.

Las Vegas posted the nation’s highest metro foreclosure rate for the year, with more than 12 percent of its housing units receiving a foreclosure notice in 2009 — more than five times the national average.

California accounted for nine of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates, followed by Florida with eight, Nevada with two and Arizona with one.

RealtyTrac said the problem in the U.S. housing market is not showing any signs of slowing down and that foreclosure activity showed signs of spreading into previously insulated areas as unemployment became more of a driving factor.

“While it was expected that cities from states with the highest levels of foreclosure activity would top the charts, there is evidence that we’re entering a new wave of foreclosures, driven more by unemployment and economic hardship than what we’ve seen over the past few years,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, located in Irvine, Calif.