Market Report – Clayton County GA Foreclosures Highest in Metro Atlanta

Market Report – Clayton County GA Foreclosures Highest in the Metro Atlanta

Good news for bargain-hunting property buyers, not so good for some property owners: Georgia has long held the dubious distinction of being one of the hardest hit states for foreclosures. Clayton County has been particularly ravaged. The latest Realty Trac report shows that the Clayton County real estate market had 2931 foreclosure filings in November 2011. That’s 1 in every 155 houses.  Compare that to the national number -- 1 in every 579 U. S. housing units that had a foreclosure filing in November. The state of Georgia’s foreclosure activity spiked 23% in that same period, reflecting the 5^th highest foreclosure rate in the nation. And Clayton County is one of the hardest hit counties within the state.

The Metro Atlanta real estate market may be in for another big wave of new Clayton County short sale and Clayton County foreclosure sale inventory coming available in the near future.

For the past several seasons I’ve noticed that foreclosure tend to slow down this time of year.  This year seems to be following suit, and that is a good thing. No one wants to think about neighbors losing their homes during the holidays.

But this slowdown has usually been temporary, with notices going out again early in the new year. This year will be no exception, according to industry predictors. In fact, the latest Realty Trac report projects that a new wave of foreclosures will be rolling onto the market in early 2012 as bank-owned property resales or short sales.