The largest increase in foreclosures in Virginia last year occurred in the rural areas of the state, according to a report released Monday by a housing advocacy, research and counseling group in Richmond.
Foreclosures rates in rural areas have doubled since 2008, as people lost their jobs and were unable to make their house payments, according to the report by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc.
More than 200,000 foreclosure notices have been filed in Virginia since 2006, including 60,000 notices of default or repossessions in 2010.
Virginia would have recorded the highest number of foreclosure filings since the Great Depression had it not been for moratoriums imposed by lenders during the last three months of 2010 to review possible flaws in their foreclosure processes, the report stated.
The crisis started in Northern Virginia with speculation in real estate that led to a sharp rise in subprime lending and a subsequent rise in foreclosures, said Will Sanford, a housing policy analyst with HOME.
But rising unemployment and underemployment issues have taken a toll, especially in hard-hit area of rural Virginia, he said.
Virginia's unemployment rate rose from 3 percent in 2007 to 6.6 percent in November 2010. But unemployment in rural Virginia rose from 3.3 percent to 7.3 percent in the same time period, according to the report.
Foreclosures in rural Virginia increased nearly 100 percent from 2008 to 2009, while rising 13 percent in other parts of the state, Sanford said. From 2009 to 2010, foreclosures in rural Virginia increased 16 percent, while rising 4 percent elsewhere in the state, he said.
chazard@timesdispatch.com
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