Idaho Foreclosure Rate Posts Big Decrease

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Idaho saw a more than 40 percent drop in foreclosure filings from October to November, according to numbers from RealtyTrac, released today.  The report shows that one in every 770 housing units in Idaho had a foreclosure filing last month, compared to one in every 432 in October.

Idaho’s 40 percent drop in foreclosure activity is much greater than the national drop of 3 percent.  The state’s foreclosure rate has fallen to 16th in the nation. In August, Idaho ranked fifth.

Mike Turner, president of Boise-based Front Street Brokers, believes there’s a clear reason Idaho’s foreclosure rate has dropped.  “In Idaho, the foreclosure process is much faster and more streamlined than it is in some other states,” he said.  “We’ve had our low point, I think.  It was so bad here that most people threw the towel in already.”

According to a Brookings Institution report released today, the housing market began to improve across the West in the third quarter, when home prices showed improvement for the first time since the start of the recession.  Still, the report says, prices in Boise remained more than 17 percent below last year’s level.