Posted by Foreclosures are tapering off in the nation’s largest city after spiking last year, but hundreds of families still saw their homes go to auction in the last month alone, a new report shows.
The pain isn’t spread equally. The report from real estate data service PropertyShark.com shows nearly two-thirds of the auctions were in Queens, which accounts for less than a third of the city’s population.
Citywide, the total of 318 new foreclosure auctions last month was down 7 percent from July 2008 — and 20 percent from a peak in September. PropertyShark’s tally includes only homes and apartments scheduled for auction for the first time, to avoid counting the same property multiple times if an auction is postponed.
Other data also point to a foreclosure slowdown. A broader measure of foreclosure-related legal activity dropped nearly 19 percent citywide between the second quarter of last year and the same period this year, according to figures from the state Banking Department and the foreclosure information service RealtyTrac.
While the foreclosure crunch has eased somewhat in Queens, the borough still is being squeezed. In Manhattan, home to 1 in 5 New Yorkers, just four new foreclosure auctions were scheduled in July — compared to 199 in Queens, the PropertyShark data show.
That may be partially because Queens has a large number of single-family homes, which don’t allow owners the possible rent income of two- or three-family houses, said the company’s foreclosure data manager, Ashleigh Lotz. In apartment-heavy Manhattan, meanwhile, many buildings have stringent financial requirements for buyers.
The tide of foreclosures has spilled into Rep. Gregory Meeks’ office in Queens’ hard-hit St. Albans neighborhood. Since October, he has turned it into an impromptu foreclosure counseling center every Wednesday afternoon, with help from others including the Consortium for Worker Education, a nonprofit group affiliated with labor unions.
Hundreds of homeowners have come for help at sessions that start at noon and sometimes run until 9 or 10 p.m., the Democratic congressman said.
Norma Wan was two days away from having her home of 35 years auctioned off — to satisfy a roughly $20,000 debt — when she went to Meeks’ office for help in November, she said.
