TOPIC AREA
Housing and Community Development

INDICATOR:

Number of residential properties
under mortgage foreclosure

Why is this indicator important in Baltimore City?

The number of properties under mortgage foreclosure is an indicator of the conditions around homeownership, lending, and affordability.

The indicator reflects the properties where the bank or lending company has filed a foreclosure proceeding with the court system - the step before the property is foreclosed. This is not the list of the actual foreclosed property, nor the sale of the foreclosed property.

What has been happening in Baltimore City?

Foreclosures decreased 21 percent since 2001. In 2001 there were 5,597 properties listed under mortgage foreclosure and in 2003 there were 4,446.

Although our tracking begins in 2000, the decrease in foreclosures is much more significant starting in 2001.

Definition:

This indicator reflects the number of properties under mortgage foreclosure out of all properties in the area.

Mortgage foreclosures happen when a property owner cannot pay mortgage and/or other maintenance costs over a series of months, and the bank or lending company files with the court to end the mortgage and take ownership of the property. In some cases, banks will work with people on other payment arrangements. Other times, people are taken advantage of by lending companies and become the victims of predatory lending resulting in a foreclosure.

Calculation considerations:

The data for this indicator are from the foreclosures listed from the Baltimore City Circuit Court. These filings are the step before the actual sale of the foreclosed property from the bank or lender to another owner.

These foreclosures are different from tax sale foreclosures which reflect the City taking a property to auction that is abandoned by a landlord and containing multiple liens.

Data source:

Circuit Court of Baltimore City

Analysis:

Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance staff

Years tracked:

2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Geography:

Citywide, CSA, census tract

To access the Indicator:

Download Vital Signs 3

Activate the interactive mapping system

Obtain the Vital Signs by census tract

Download Community Statistical Area profiles

For more information about the Alliance and the Vital Signs, go to the website www.bnia.org.

To find out about your neighborhood, go to the Vital Signs section.

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