County foreclosures down 35.5%

March

Year — Units

2010 — 255

2009 — 605

2008 — 234

2007 — 70

2006 — 150

Source: RealtyTrac, Irvine, Calif.

The number of Clark County homes in foreclosure fell by 35.5 percent in the three months ending in March, the first quarterly decline in the sector in more than two years, according to a report being released today.

Real estate experts viewed the decline as a sign that the glut of foreclosures in Clark County’s housing market is thinning. However, the rate is still high, according to California-based RealtyTrac. The county ranked second-highest among Washington’s 39 counties for its rate of foreclosure in the first three months of 2010, with one of every 185 households in some stage of foreclosure. Clark County’s performance was only slightly better than No. 1-ranked Pierce County, which had one in 177 homes in foreclosure.

During the three-month period, there were 878 housing units in foreclosure in Clark County, compared with 1,301 foreclosures in the first quarter of 2009.

“We’ve kind of worked through the worst of things now” in terms of the weeding out the “toxic” adjustable-rate and subprime mortgages that created trouble in the first place, said Mike Lamb, a broker with Windermere Real Estate/Stellar Group in Vancouver.

In March, 255 Clark County homes were in foreclosure. It was the same number as in February. Foreclosure includes homes in default, homes up for auction, and bank repossessions.

Lamb said as the downward pressure on the housing market has eased, fewer “underwater” homeowners are walking away from their mortgages. He also sees a rise in consumer confidence and more willingness by troubled borrowers to fight to keep their homes.

“People begin to say, ‘Maybe it isn’t really the end of the world,’” he said.

However, Lamb cautioned that continued improvement will depend on other factors, including Clark County’s high unemployment rate, just shy of 15 percent in March.

“I don’t expect the foreclosures to drop significantly for a while. At this point, what we’re seeing is job-driven foreclosures,” he said.

RealtyTrac reported the number of U.S. households on the verge of foreclosure increased by 7 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter, and increased 16 percent from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 352 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the first quarter this year.