Foreclosures jump in Lane County, state for 2015

BY ED RUSSO

The Register Guard

Jan 13 2016

Lane County had the second-largest number of property foreclosures in Oregon during 2015, according to a Eugene company that tracks foreclosures in the state.

Foreclosures in Lane County reached 929 in the recently completed year, second only to 1,351 in Multnomah County, which includes Portland.

In Lane County, foreclosures in 2015 jumped 33 percent, up from 693 the year earlier, Gorilla Capital said Tuesday.

Overall, foreclosure filings increased 24 percent in 2015 in the 20 Oregon counties monitored by the firm.

Foreclosures reached 8,736 in the recently completed year compared with 7,072 foreclosures in 2014, Gorilla Capital’s Chief Executive John Helmick said.

“Oregon is not through the foreclosure crisis yet, but the end is in sight,” he said. “Our state is experiencing a slower economic recovery from the recession than other states, particularly in the rural areas. An additional contributing factor is state legislation passed in 2014 that was meant to help troubled homeowners and lenders has instead slowed the foreclosure process down and added dramatically to slower economic healing in our state.”

For most months in 2015, foreclosure filings hovered near 700, with an average of 728 filings per month over the year. Filings peaked in January and February, when more than 900 foreclosures were filed each month.

Yamhill County, southwest of Portland, recorded the largest increase, at 58 percent, followed by Jefferson, 45 percent, Coos, 44, Klamath, 36 percent, Curry, 35 percent and Lane, 33 percent. Foreclosure filings dropped 61 percent in Crook County. At 1 percent, Tillamook was the only other county that had a decrease in filings from 2015 compared with 2014.

Foreclosure filings

Activity in counties monitored by Gorilla Capital of Eugene

County is followed by number of foreclosures in 2014, 2015 and percent change

Yamhill: 220, 347, +58%

Jefferson: 51, 74, +45%

Coos: 169, 244, +44%

Klamath: 227, 308, +36%

Curry: 49, 66, +35%

Lane: 693, 921, +33%

Douglas: 269, 353, +31%

Lincoln: 144, 188, +31%

Benton: 61, 79, +30%

Linn: 296, 379, +28%

Clackamas: 720, 902, +25%

Josephine: 295, 369 +25%

Jackson: 526, 636, +21%

Marion: 684, 823, +20%

Multnomah: 1,124, 1,351, +20%

Washington: 808, 960, +19%

Deschutes: 404, 432, +7%

Polk, 187: 199, +6%

Crook, 64: 25, -61%

Tillamook: 81, 80, -1%

Total: 7,072, 8,736, +24%

You can read the article here on The Register Guard’s website.