The home foreclosure rate in the Greensboro-High Point, N.C., region is so low that it's not considered a threat to the area's economy.
A new survey shows that the three-county region had 246 homes in some stage of foreclosure during August — nearly 11% lower than a year ago and low enough to rank the region at No. 45 among the nation's 217 metro areas.
"If anything, foreclosure activity is still trending downward,"
A home goes into the foreclosure process when the owner can't pay the mortgage. And, according to the Attom Data survey, that doesn’t happen here very often.
Blomquist explained that a foreclosure rate of 1% or less of all houses in a market is considered healthy. That rate in the Greensboro-High Point region was 0.42% in the first half of 2017.
"We're seeing a healthy market now," said Chris Young, a mortgage planner with Benchmark Mortgage in Greensboro. "We're still in the early stages. Because it was flatlined for so long, we're just getting back to what should be a healthy market."
The Greensboro real estate market has seen a recent shortage of homes for sale, which is boosting prices and making it less likely that a mortgage holder will owe more than a home is worth.
For the most part, the national foreclosure picture is strong as well.
"Lending standards are much better, so the reasons people are falling into foreclosure now are more based on unfortunate circumstances," Blomquist said. "It's not because the loans are inherently risky."
The most troubled area in the nation right now is the Atlantic City-Hammonton, N.J., region, where one out of every 441 homes is under foreclosure.
In the Greensboro-High Point market, that figure is one out of every 1,329 homes.
Fayetteville had the worst rate in North Carolina with one in every 715 homes under foreclosure in August, making it the nation's sixth-worst city.
Young said that banks and lending agencies have been able to loan people more money than their homes are worth under a soon-to-expire federal program that has kept many people out of foreclosure.
Also, rising home prices are helping people sell their homes if they get into trouble with mortgage payments.
