Staff Report
Published July 30, 2010

The Charleston region continued to have the highest rate of foreclosures in South Carolina for the first six months of 2010, according to a quarterly report from a national real estate tracking firm.

RealtyTrac also reported in its Midyear 2010 Metropolitan Foreclosure Market Report that Columbia, Spartanburg, central western South Carolina and the Grand Strand had some of the lowest foreclosure rates. Every metropolitan statistical area in the Palmetto state showed a year-over-year increase in foreclosure filings, RealtyTrac reported.

The data show that 75% of the nation’s 206 most-populated regions had six-month increases in foreclosure filings — from notices of default to repossession by lenders — compared to the same period last year.

“The fragile stability achieved in many local housing markets hinges on improvements in the underlying economy, specifically job growth,” said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio. “If unemployment remains persistently high and foreclosure prevention efforts only delay the inevitable, then we could continue to see increased foreclosure activity and a corresponding weakness in home prices in many metro areas.”

That view mirrors comments and analysis from an economist who spoke on Thursday in North Charleston.

“We’re going to see really strong improvement in the market once we get year-over-year job growth,” Joseph Von Nessen, from USC’s Moore School of Business, said to more than 350 people at the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors’ Residential Market Update.

Von Nessen said the recent increase in home sales — which he attributed to the federal tax incentives for homebuyers — was essentially borrowing sales from future months, but he said it did help stabilize markets across the nation.

Midyear 2010 foreclosure numbers:

Midlands
The Columbia metro area saw an increase of nearly 53% in foreclosure filings from January to June when compared with the same six months in 2009, RealtyTrac numbers show. But the numbers barely budged compared with the previous six months, with a 0.07% increase. The region was in the lower half in foreclosure filings, with more than 2,800 for the past six months, and it had a comparable rate of homes in distress, with one out of every 111 homes.

Lowcountry
The Charleston metro area saw a 17.08% increase in foreclosure filings from January to June when compared with the same six months in 2009, RealtyTrac numbers show. The region led the state in foreclosure filings, with more than 4,200 for the past six months, and it had the highest rate of homes in distress, with one out of every 68 homes.

Upstate
The Greenville metro area saw an increase of nearly 17.12% in foreclosure filings from January to June when compared with the same six months in 2009, RealtyTrac numbers show. The region was third-highest in the state in foreclosure filings, with more than 3,000 for the past six months. The MSA had 1 out of every 90 homes in distress. Spartanburg, which is measured as a separate MSA, was the third-lowest in the state, with 1,054 filings and one home for every 116 in distress from January to June.

Source: RealtyTrac

Staff writer Ashley Fletcher Frampton contributed to this report.