Providence metro foreclosure rate drops

By Patrick Anderson
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – The Providence-Fall River-New Bedford area foreclosure rate dropped 0.52 percentage points in December compared with the same period in December 2010, CoreLogic said Tuesday.

For the month, 2.55 percent of all outstanding mortgages were in foreclosure, compared with 3.07 percent in December 2010, the California-based real estate tracking firm said.

It was the second consecutive month of year-over-year foreclosure rate declines and put the Providence area even further below the national foreclosure rate of 3.37 percent.

The Providence area includes Bristol County, Mass., and all of Rhode Island except Newport County. The year-over-year Rhode Island foreclosure rate fell 0.72 percentage points in December to 2.58 percent.

Along with the foreclosure rate, the Providence area’s mortgage delinquency rate fell 0.27 percentage points in December compared with December 2010. The 7.44 percent of homes 90 days or more behind on mortgage payments is still above the national rate of 7.23 percent.