Home Foreclosure Filings Up in Louisiana Metro Areas

Five Louisiana metropolitan areas saw home foreclosure activity jump in 2010 as the national housing crisis spread from its initial hot spots, a tracking firm said.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac said foreclosure filings for homeowners – ranging from an initial default notice to outright confiscation by a lender – increased in 72 percent of the national metropolitan areas it surveyed.

Among those were New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houma-Thibodaux and Shreveport-Bossier City. Of the 206 metro areas calculated by RealtyTrac, however, only the New Orleans area made the top 100 in foreclosure rates. RealtyTrac surveyed areas with at least 200,000 residents.

RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said the crisis spread as high unemployment lingered and hit areas that were “relatively insulated from the initial foreclosure tsunami.”

Initially, the foreclosure problem was heavily concentrated in metro areas in such states as Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan. However, the top 10 metro areas for foreclosures saw decreases in 2010.

In Louisiana:

• New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner recorded 7,822 foreclosure filings last year, up 36 percent from 2009 and 79 percent from 2008. Those filings hit one in every 57 housing units, ranking the area 95th in the United States.
• Baton Rouge saw a 31 percent increase in foreclosure filings in 2010, up 31 percent from 2009 and 214 percent from 2008. Last year’s filings were aimed at one in every 94 housing units, ranking the area 150th nationally.
• Shreveport-Bossier City reported 1,429 filings last year, affecting one in every 122 housing units. The count was up 16.5 percent from 2009 and 135 percent from 2008, ranking the area 170th nationally.
• Lafayette recorded 843 filings in 2010, affecting one in every 133 housing units. The number of filings rose 39 percent from 2009 and 197 percent from 2008. Lafayette was ranked 174th in the United States.
• Houma-Thibodaux had 371 filings in 2010, hitting one in every 222 housing units. That was up 64 percent from 2009 and 689 percent from 2008. The area ranked 192nd nationally.

Across the United States, there were 2.87 million foreclosure filings last year, affecting one in every 45 housing units. That was up 1.67 percent from 2009 and 23 percent from 2008. Las Vegas was the metro area hit the most, with one in every nine housing units being targeted for a foreclosure-related notice.

Topics USA Louisiana