Trustee report: Market sluggish, foreclosures as expected

Colorado Springs has seen a less active year for real estate, but it was back in 2000, according to the latest figures from Public Trustee Tom Mowle.

Mowle reported that there were just 2,454 deeds released in October. Deeds are released when someone sells a home, refinances or pays off a mortgage, which Mowle has said is a solid indicator of real estate activity and the health of the market.

That number puts El Paso County on track to have the lowest annual total number of deed releases since 2000, despite record low interest rates, Mowle writes in his report.

“Adjusted for population changes,” Mowle writes, “you’d have to go back to 1995 to find a weaker year for private-party housing payoffs.”

The number of foreclosures, however, has fallen off since it spiked in 2009. Year-to-date, there have been 2,953 foreclosures in the county. That’s down from 3,966 at the same time last year and 4,540 in 2009.

While he year-to-date total is down, October marked the third month in a row with new foreclosure starts totaling in the low 300s after six months in the 200s.

“This continues the increased level of foreclosures starts we expected for this year,” Mowle writes, “ as the last interest-only 80/20 loans get reset.”

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