PROVIDENCE – The number of foreclosure notices in the Providence metropolitan area dropped 41.7 percent during the third quarter compared with the same period last year, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
The Irvine, Calif.-based real-estate tracking firm said 2,446 properties in the metro area, or one in every 277 homes, received a foreclosure notice. The area’s foreclosure rate ranked 141st highest among the 206 metro areas surveyed. The metro area includes Providence, New Bedford, Fall River and the surrounding region.
The number of notices filed in the Providence area dropped 11.2 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, RealtyTrac said.
Nationally, RealtyTrac said one in every 139 homes received a foreclosure notice during the third quarter, down eight-tenths of a percent from a year earlier but up 3.9 percent from the previous quarter.
“The underlying problems that are causing homeowners to miss their mortgage payments — high unemployment, underemployment, toxic loans and negative equity — are continuing to plague most local housing markets,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac. “And these historically high foreclosure rates will continue until those problems are resolved.”
The Las Vegas area led the way in forecloses notices, with one in every 25 homes receiving a notice. Cities in California and Florida also topped the chart.
On the opposite end of the scale, the Utica area in upstate New York recorded just 17 notices, or one for every 8,003 homes.
