Metro Atlanta foreclosures decline in September, but still at high level

The foreclosure picture in metro Atlanta improved in September, but the numbers are still at very high levels, according to new data released Monday.

Barry Bramlett

Foreclosure notices in metro Atlanta dropped 24 percent in September — from the monthly record of 13,130 notices set in August, Equity Depot figures reveal.

But September’s decline to 9,975 foreclosure notices was largely because of the calendar, said Barry Bramlett, president of Alpharetta-based Equity Depot. There was less time for lenders to prepare foreclosure ads for publication this month than last month. (The September numbers reflect foreclosure ads on properties that will be auctioned on the courthouse steps in October.)

Bramlett said he is not seeing any significant change in the situation.

The number of foreclosure notices for the first nine months of the year are running 5.4 percent above last year, when an annual record was set. So far, 92,533 properties have been advertised for foreclosure this year, Equity Depot figures show. That compared with 87,790 for the same period last year.

While residential properties represent the bulk of the foreclosures, Bramlett said there have been “particularly high numbers of commercial and failed development loans” advertised for foreclosure, “reflecting hard times for businesses.”

He added that there is “no real reason to believe there will be any decrease in this economy.”

For the fifth straight month, Gwinnett County led the pack with 2,140 foreclosure notices. Fulton was second, with 1,896, followed by DeKalb (1,361), Cobb (,1,227) and Clayton (803).

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