The significant drop in Memphis pre foreclosure homes in February has allowed home prices to rise, based on data from a research firm specializing in real estate foreclosures.
Foreclosures in Memphis fell by more than 29 percent from February last year to 1,092 postings in February this year, equivalent to one foreclosure posting for every 507 residential units. The number also marked a drop of 21 percent from filings in the previous month of January.
Statewide, foreclosure activity also slowed down, although the rate of decline is much lower than the rate of decline in the Memphis metro area. Foreclosure postings fell by 5.6 percent from the preceding month, but posted a small uptick of 0.03 percent from filings in February 2009.
Nearly 3,700 foreclosures were filed in Tennessee in February, including 1,885 units in the foreclosed home sale lists of banks and 1,807 foreclosure sale notices sent to delinquent homeowners.
With a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 747 residential units in the state, Tennessee was ranked 23rd among the 50 states based on their percentages of foreclosures.
As the city of Memphis is the largest in Tennessee and Greater Memphis is the second largest metropolitan area, it is safe to assume that Memphis pre foreclosure homes have been contributing substantially to statewide foreclosure figures.
The Memphis metropolitan area includes the Tennessee counties of Shelby, Tipton and Fayette and the Mississippi counties of Marshall, DeSoto, Tate and Tunica. It also encompasses the county of Crittenden in Arkansas.
Memphis is home to the world’s busiest cargo airport, the Memphis International Airport, and home to nine Fortune 500 firms that include FedEx, AutoZone, Thomas and Betts and International Paper.
Notwithstanding the big companies, the unemployment rate in Memphis rose in January to 11.3 percent, an increase of one point from December 2009.
In 2009, the Memphis metro area posted a total of 15,334 foreclosure filings, marking more than 11 percent of decrease compared to filings in 2008. The number, however, marked an increase of almost 36 percent from filings in 2007.
With one foreclosure filing in the metro area for every 36 residential units, the Memphis area ranked 45th in a listing of 203 metropolitan areas based on percentages of foreclosure activity.
As the number of Memphis pre foreclosure homes dropped in February, the sales price median for homes rose by 5.5 percent to $80,200. The average price, however, for homes sold in February dropped by almost 5 percent to $112,035.