Pennsylvania Witnesses 20% Spike In Foreclosure Activity for March 2008

The State of Pennsylvania has reported 2,900 foreclosure filings for March 2008, a 20% spike from Feb’08, and a decrease of 1% from the same time last year. According to a report published by RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, foreclosed homes Pennsylvania are increasing as the unemployment rate in the state has risen quite a bit through the past year.


For foreclosures by state, Pennsylvania ranks # 21 nationwide and has reported one foreclosure for every 1,880 PA households. Currently the foreclosure rate for Pennsylvania is ranked at 33rd rank amongst the 50 states in the U.S. of A. The bulk of Pennsylvanian’s foreclosure activity can be attributed to the top five counties including Philadelphia, Allegheny, York, Dauphin, and Montgomery Counties. These 5 counties account for 69% of foreclosure homes in the state for March 2008.

Philadelphia County notched the top position for the highest foreclosure rate with 719 filings; following closely is Allegheny County with 682 properties; while York County and Dauphin County reported 241 and 197 foreclosure filings respectively. Montgomery County, which is ranked fifth, with 174 foreclosure filings, rounds off the top 5 counties in the State for foreclosure.

Dauphin County showed the highest foreclosure rate for March 2008. One foreclosure per 588 Dauphin County households was 3.2 times more than the state’s average for foreclosure filings for March 2008. Behind Dauphin County was York County with one per 712 households, and Allegheny County with one per 866 households. Pennsylvania accounts for a total of 1% of the national total foreclosure rate for March.
Whether it were tax foreclosure homes, or bank foreclosure homes, Pennsylvania had 234, 685 property owners filing for foreclosure in March alone.

Protecting Vulnerable Homeowners From Effects Of Foreclosures in PA

According to the report released by the Department of Banking, ‘Losing the American Dream: A Report on Residential Mortgage Foreclosures and Abusive Lending Practices in Pennsylvania’ recently, the state of Pennsylvania is experiencing a high rate of foreclosure. The report highlights the subprime practices as the main reason why majority of homeowners state and nationwide have their homes in foreclosure.


Furthermore the report takes initiative to outline a series of methods that can help protect the vulnerable homeowners who are getting affected by the subprime and unemployment situations. PA foreclosure homes (and across the nation) are the reflection of increasingly predatory lending practices where lenders offered loans to homeowners who had bad credit histories and didn’t qualify for ‘prime’ or main loans.

Though the nation’s witnessing a surge in the number of homes in foreclosures by state, foreclosures in Pennsylvania State have seen a dramatic fall since the end of 2006, defying the national trend. New data suggests that the foreclosure situation in the state is beginning to right itself, as the number of new Pennsylvania foreclosure homes has fallen steadily since August. There was some more good news in store for Pennsylvania residents, as the foreclosure filings for 4th quarter of 2007 dipped by 20% compared to October number for 2006. This was a unique occurrence as most other states witness doubling of their inventory for the same period. Pennsylvania State appears to have found an effective way to insulate itself from the subprime tsunami and many experts attribute this to the traditional lending practices followed in the state.

The Pennsylvania lenders exercised precaution and authorized ‘subprime’ loans in lower numbers than in the other states of the nation, invariably reducing the high incidence of bank foreclosures connected to such type of loans.