King County foreclosure activity declined last month

With the economy souring, it may be too soon to say the worst is past for foreclosures, but King County is showing signs that fewer homeowners are losing their homes.

Last month, the county saw a 42 percent decline in foreclosure activity compared with August and a 13 percent drop compared with the previous September.

That meant one in every 1,630 King County households was in some stage of foreclosure, compared with one in every 475 nationally, reported RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure-information provider.

It released September and third-quarter foreclosure data today.

Pierce County, however, did not fare as well. The county long troubled by foreclosures had the most foreclosure activity in the state last month.

Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Snohomish, Clark and Kitsap — in that order — rounded out the top six. King County ranked 12th.

Although Pierce County's foreclosure activity dropped 22 percent from August to September and was up 3 percent year over year, RealtyTrac gauged one in every 580 Pierce County households was in danger of losing their home.

In Snohomish County, one in every 1,040 households was in some stage of foreclosure, down 23 percent from August and up 3 percent from the previous September.

Statewide, total filings were down 38 percent from August and 16 percent from the September 2007.

Washington also showed an improvement in its overall foreclosure ranking, coming in 34th in the nation. That's well down from earlier this year, when it ranked 25th.

Some 1,952 properties were in some stage of foreclosure last month. States in the lead were Nevada, Florida, Arizona and California.

In hard-hit Nevada, one in every 82 households was in distress.

Nationally, foreclosure filings fell 12 percent in September, compared with the previous month. However RealtyTrac's chief executive officer cautioned against reading too much into last month's national decline.

"Much of the 12 percent decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures," James Saccacio said.

In particular he cited California's new law, which took effect in early September. It resulted in initial foreclosure actions dropping 51 percent from the previous month.

"That drop had a significant impact on the national numbers, given that California accounts for close to one-third of the nation's foreclosure activity each month," Saccacio said.

RealtyTrac's third-quarter statistics put Washington 26th in foreclosure activity.

Of the 100 top metropolitan areas, Tacoma ranked 40th and Seattle/Bellevue/Everett ranked 77th during the third quarter.

The top 10 cities were in California, Nevada, Florida and Arizona, with California alone claiming six spots, including No. 1 Stockton.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com