From the Housing Bubble Blog, here is a worrisome article from the Santa Fe New Mexican.
The recession was slow to arrive in NM, but now that it has arrived it looks like it might stay awhile:
Home foreclosure activity has skyrocketed in Santa Fe County in the first half of 2010, according to an analysis by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
While parts of the United States are seeing moderate foreclosure increases or slight declines, Santa Fe County's foreclosure auctions increased from 23 in January to June of 2009 to 77 in the first six months of this year.
...The numbers are still small compared with national markets — in the hardest hit market of Las Vegas, Nev., 1 in every 15 homes is under foreclosure action — but each auction requires a published newspaper notice, and those have garnered attention.
"I did have the same impression that they've spiked recently," said Alan Ball, who publishes a monthly newsletter on residential sales. "One day The New Mexican had in excess of 30 notices."
...In June, almost 22 percent of all sales in Santa Fe County were distressed homes or bank-owned properties, said Peter Kahn, a broker with Santa Fe Realty Partners who last summer predicted a foreclosure wave in Santa Fe.
...Foreclosures are especially affecting higher-end properties as just six $1 million-plus homes have been selling each month in the county. For instance, Kahn said, there was a $1.2 million home in Las Campanas that needs about $100,000 of work but now has a price tag of $479,000.
"Last month, two homes sold in Las Campanas and there are 140 on the market," he added.
Frank O'Mahony, who opened up his Evolve Real Estate Santa Fe last year — the worst in at least a decade for home sales here — has done an analysis of the market on his website. He sees inventory rising whenever sales percolate. "There is a huge overhang of people holding back, waiting to put their homes on the market," he said.
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