Ohio Foreclosure Rates at Record High

Posted in Foreclosure, August 31st, 2006 |

This year’s foreclosure statistics show that one out of every 71 Ohio households filed for foreclosure in 2005. This makes it another record year for a problem that has ravaged counties all over Ohio and grabbed the attention of state lawmakers.

Nearly 64,000 foreclosures were filed in 2005, a figure that is quadruple the number from a decade ago, according to a new report by the Cleveland nonprofit group Policy Matters Ohio.

County sheriffs and other officials speculate that predatory lending was the number one reason for the foreclosures, followed by job losses. Rising interest rates also play a part in making mortgages payments too high for homeowners to keep up.

Ohio already has the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, and it seems that it’s only going to get worse. After increasing at a rate of 3 percent over the past two years, the number of foreclosure filings jumped more than 8 percent in 2005, and experts doubt the rate has peaked.

The results of the new study come as Ohio lawmakers are trying to come to a consensus on a proposal dealing with predatory lending. However, the House and Senate can’t seem to agree on the route a proposal should take. Senate Bill 185 is headed for a joint conference committee when lawmakers return from their spring break in May. Consumer advocates praised the senate’s proposal for giving consumers a number of new protections, but it was sharply criticized by the mortgage industry. The industry was more satisfied with the House version, but consumer advocates argued it