According to this post at Real Clear Markets, foreclosures in July in the United States are overwhelmingly concentrated in a few states.  Yes; you know that the sunbelt states have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis, but the pain must be spread around nationwide, right?  Well… maybe not as much as you think.  California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona make up a whopping 57% of the nation’s foreclosures.

Charting the Crisis for July 2009

These statistics are from the most recent data available, foreclosures in July 2009.  The raw data was provided to Real Clear Markets by Realty Trac.  Let’s put this in perspective; let’s look at these statistics visually.  (Population estimates from US Census Bureau, Wikipedia entry here, foreclosure estimates from Realty Trac).  First up: the ratio of a state’s population to the nation’s population, in 2008.

poppercentage The Real Estate Collapse Epicenter
Percentage of US Population, 2008 (Census Bureau Estimate)

Next up?  The percentage of foreclosures divided by the percentage of populations.  Let’s call this the ‘foreclosure pain ratio’.  Here you can see these states are getting more than their share of foreclosures.  In terms of raw numbers, states and territories in America not named Florida, California, Nevada, and Arizona make up 78.8% of the population yet only contributed 43% of the July defaults.

foreclosetopop The Real Estate Collapse Epicenter
Foreclosure Percentage / Population Percentage (July, Realty Trac)

Interesting data… let’s hope we can soon put this behind us.  California in particular should soon face the results of all of this foreclosing… the number of foreclosure sales should soon be on the upswing.  Your thoughts?  Time to buy?  Maybe not.

Posted by PK on August - 19 - 2009
      

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