Sheriff's unit sets monthly sales mark

Foreclosure sales up 83 percent over 2006.

Star Tribune

Last update: February 19, 2008 - 11:21 PM

THE LATEST: The mortgage crisis is hitting particularly hard in Hennepin County, where the civil unit of the Sheriff's Office handled a record number of sales of foreclosed property in January.

THE NUMBERS: In the first 31 days of 2008, the Sheriff's Office handled 711 sales of foreclosed property, breaking the previous monthly high of 561 set in October 2007.

For the year, the Sheriff's Office said it handled 5,563 sales of foreclosed property, an 83 percent increase over the 3,042 reported in 2006.

Just in 2002, the number of sales of foreclosed properties in the county was only 920.

NATIONALLY: The news comes as the number of foreclosures on residential properties across the United States continues to rise. While bad here, the problem is worse in other major metropolitan areas, according to figures released last week by RealtyTrac, a mortgage research company that markets foreclosed properties online.

WHERE STATE STANDS: According to the company's Year-End 2007 Metropolitan Foreclosure Report, Minneapolis-St. Paul came in at No. 60 in a survey of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas. A survey conducted in the fall of 2007 had ranked the Twin Cities at No. 69.

The survey said 12,755 foreclosure filings on 10,798 properties were reported in 2007. Well under 1 percent of Twin Cities area households were engaged in some stage of the foreclosure process during the year.

OVERALL: Overall, the mortgage tracking company said foreclosures nationwide rose 75 percent in 2007. More than 2.2 million foreclosure filings on 1.285 million properties were recorded. That is an average of 1.03 percent of all households that entered some stage of foreclosure, RealtyTrac said.

TIM HARLOW

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