Madison Wisconsin Real Estate News

Foreclosure rates have been receiving a significant amount of attention over the past couple of years, and for good reason. After all, the rate of foreclosure is a good indicator of the overall health of the economy on a national level as well as on a local level. Therefore, for those who live in Dane County and Madison, Wisconsin, taking a closer look at foreclosure rates is of great importance -- even to those who are not directly involved in the real estate market, since the condition of the economy is something that affects everyone throughout Dane County and the state of Wisconsin.

According to RealtyTrac, 1 in every 180 housing units in Dane County, Wisconsin received a foreclosure filing in April 2010. Taking into account that the foreclosure rate is considered to be “high” when one in of every 106 housing units is in foreclosure and to be “low” when one in every 2,305 homes is in foreclosure, this figure still falls well within the high end of the scale. Things look quite a bit better in Madison, however, where only one in every 984 housing units were in foreclosure.

When looking at the pre-foreclosure data for Dane County over the past six months, the figures have held relatively steady. Unfortunately for homeowners in Dane County, however, the trend of the pre-foreclosure rate is on the upswing. In November 2009, 128 homes were in pre-foreclosure, while 137 homes were in pre-foreclosure in April 2010. The number of homes that went to auction went down slightly during this same time period, with 85 homes going to auction in November of 2009 and 87 homes going to auction in April 2010. During this same time period, the rate of REO (Real Estate Owned or bank-owned) properties also went down slightly from 56 in November 2009 to 55 in April 2010.

Despite the seemingly bad news, foreclosure rates for Dane County actually look much better than the rest of the state as well as the rest of the nation. In fact, the national foreclosure rate is currently sitting at 0.26%, while the statewide foreclosure rate for Wisconsin is 0.17% and the foreclosure rate in Dane County comes in at 0.13%.

What's the bottom line? Put simply, the country as a whole is still working its way out of a deep recession. As such, many homeowners are still experiencing problems keeping their homes out of foreclosure. In the state of Wisconsin, however, and particularly in Dane County and Madison, homeowners are faring far better than the rest of the country and are poised to bounce back far more quickly than many markets throughout the country.

For more Madison housing market statistics and MLS sales data, please visit Lake & City Homes Realty's Madison real estate sales page.