Virginia Foreclosures

Virginia Foreclosure Trends impact Residents

In 2007 Governor Timothy Kaine announced he would begin the formation of the Virginia Foreclosures Prevention Task Force, a task force that would help as many families as possible. This was a proactive stand, and perhaps it has helped the state of Virginia’s foreclosures for the better. We will be examining the Virginia foreclosures trends to see how the foreclosures are impacting residents. Foreclosures in Fairfax will be compared to the Springfield foreclosures, as well as other areas of the state. Reston, Warrenton , Arlington, Centreville, Manassas, and Northern Virginia foreclosures will also be examined.

Virginia foreclosures are listed at 61,010 as of the end of November 2009. These were the new foreclosures for that year. Foreclosure sales year to date were at 18,247. Foreclosure sales, regarding Virginia foreclosures explain how many of the total foreclosures on the market were sold in 2009. The average sale price of the Virginia foreclosures was at $313,561. This average is again based on the entire year.

Data has yet to be released regarding December’s numbers and Fairfax foreclosures. However, November saw 757 new foreclosures on homes in Fairfax. Arlington foreclosures came in at 81, while Manassas was one of the lowest foreclosure areas. Manassas foreclosures were 59 new listings in November. Centreville, Warrenton , and Reston were not listed on the new foreclosure list for November. It is plain to see that Fairfax has the highest trend of foreclosures for November. Yet, they only make up a small amount of the 61,010 Virginia foreclosures listings. Total for the year Fairfax foreclosures come in at over 3,400. This is up from the end of 2008, where Fairfax foreclosures were at 1400 for last quarter.

Fairfax foreclosures have had the most unstable environment since the beginning of 2007. In the first quarter of 2007 they had 400 foreclosures in auction. In the third quarter as the credit crisis became more real for residents Fairfax foreclosures increased to 1800. 2009’s second quarter had the most foreclosures in the city at 2,400 auctioned houses. In comparison Arlington foreclosures have been less. Arlington foreclosures have been consistently in the 200 to 400 range per quarter until 2009 second quarter. In the second quarter of 2009 they reduced their trend to below 200 foreclosures at auction.

Despite Centreville’s lack of data regarding how many properties have been foreclosed on, we do have data regarding their auction trends. Centreville foreclosures have ranged between 680 and 909 auctions per year. Warrenton foreclosures are in the high 300’s for the amount of auctions held in the city on foreclosures.

Reston foreclosures have also seen between 200 and 400 auctions on sale. From this data we can surmise that Northern Virginia foreclosures are still rather high. The auctions are only showing the amount of homes on the block that were sold, not how many foreclosures there actually are in the area. Springfield foreclosures are just as volatile when it comes to the sales. They have an average of 340 to 580 houses on auction that have sold. These numbers are based on Counties, with the 22150 zip code seeing over 500 foreclosures on auction during the last two years.

The data being supplied can be drawn upon to show us how Virginia is being affected and what areas are being affected. From the city foreclosures listed here, we can see that not all of Northern Virginia is experiencing the same foreclosure rates. Those cities, like Fairfax, have more foreclosures on average per quarter than Springfield or Reston.

We must further draw on what type of cities we are comparing to see if the Northern Virginia foreclosure rates are equal to the city size. Fairfax, for example, has a city population of 23,349 as of 2007. Springfield, Virginia has a larger population of 30,417. Reston is a much larger city at 56,407 people. In our discussion above, we found less than 500 foreclosures per quarter were being sold on auction. Remember that this does not mean Reston has a low rate of foreclosures, simply that they have a low rate of sale on those Reston foreclosures.

Reston is a much larger populated city, yet they are seeing less Reston foreclosures sales. This could mean that Reston does not have the income to support the sales on foreclosed homes,while Fairfax foreclosures are selling. We do know that in November 2009 Fairfax had 757 new foreclosures. We also know that in the last quarter they sold 2400 of the foreclosures they had in the market. From this information it is possible to see the uptrend in Fairfax foreclosures. While they have more homes being foreclosed on, they also have the market to sell these homes unlike other cities in Northern Virginia.

All of this data helps us look at our original question: how are the residents of Virginia being affected by the foreclosures and credit crunch? The large cities are seeing a variation between each city. Manassas foreclosures came in at 59 for the month of November. In 2007 a population and demographic study was completed. It found the males’ median income was $43,000 and the females’ income was $30,000. The total population was 35,412. In comparison Fairfax had a median income of $50,000 for males and $38,000 for females. The female population in Fairfax does make more than that of the Manassas population.

This information is essential to answering the question of why there may be a lower degree of sales of the Manassas foreclosures in the trends we see, and why Fairfax foreclosures seem to sell. First, the median income in Fairfax is higher. While homes are still being lost there are those who can afford to purchase the foreclosed homes. Virginia foreclosures are around $300,000, which means the upper middle class are able to purchase these homes. In Manassas there are fewer foreclosures ostensibly because the income per household can afford the mortgages they have on their homes, avoiding the credit crunch issue. The trends clearly show that Northern Virginia foreclosures vary from city to city, with income, population, and economics all a factor in how the residents are affected.     More to come.      

IF YOU NEED TO PREVENT A FORECLOSURE AND/OR SHORT SALE A PROPERTY IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA FILL OUT THE FORM ON THIS PAGE AND I WILL GET TO YOU IMMEDIATELY.      Jeff Greenberg  The VIP Group.  703-615-0950