Clark County foreclosures spiked in February, according to a report from California-based RealtyTrac Inc.
With home sales flat for the month, some local experts say the evidence points to prolonged dormancy in the housing market.
“We’re still stagnant. We’re kind of bouncing along on the bottom,” said Dick Riley, owner of Riley & Marks appraisal firm in Vancouver.
The company this week issued its monthly “benchmarks” report, showing 307 new and pre-owned Clark County houses were sold in February, about even with January’s 319 sales and down 13.8 percent from February 2010.
Clark County foreclosures, meanwhile, increased 11.8 percent from January to February, RealtyTrac reported.
Last month’s 426 houses in some stage of foreclosure in Clark County represented a 67.1 percent increase over February 2010. In January, 381 homes were in some stage of foreclosure.
That pushed Clark County’s foreclosure rate to the second-highest out of Washington’s 39 counties. Only Snohomish County ranked worse. In January, Clark County had ranked No.4.
Riley said the rise in foreclosures coincides with the end of moratoriums that previously kept distressed properties away from the auction block.
For a time in October, large mortgage lenders imposed a nationwide halt on foreclosures as attorneys general from all 50 states investigated claims that thousands of foreclosure affidavits had been approved without proper vetting.
The banks have since resumed the process of foreclosing on homes. The result is crystal clear in Clark County’s foreclosure numbers, Riley said.
In the meantime, as one of Washington’s counties hardest hit by unemployment and falling real estate prices, Clark County saw its home values inch lower in February.
The median price — half sold for more, half for less — was $200,000 for all homes sold here in February. It was down 4.7 percent from a median of $209,900 in the same month last year.
