Foreclosures Skyrocketing Near Military Bases: Report

Bloomberg news service reported today that home foreclosures in areas surrounding military bases are rising four times faster than the national average.

Foreclosure filings in 10 towns and cities within 10 miles of military facilities, including Norfolk, Va., home of the Navy’s largest base, rose by an average 217 percent from January through April from a year earlier. Nationally, the rate was 59 percent in the same period, according to RealtyTrac, which tallies bank seizures, auctions and default notices.

RealtyTrac’s April 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 243,353 properties, a 4 percent increase from the previous month and a nearly 65 percent increase from April 2007. The report also shows one in every 519 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

According to Bloomberg, the biggest surge was in Columbia, S.C., home to Fort Jackson, where the Army trains recruits for combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Properties in some stage of foreclosure rose 492 percent from a year earlier. The second-biggest increase was 414 percent in Woodbridge, Va., next to the Marine Corps’ Quantico Base.

“We’ve never faced a situation like this, not in the Vietnam War, World War II, or the Korean War, where so many military are in danger of losing their homes,” Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, told Bloomberg.

“The total number of U.S. properties with foreclosure activity in April was the highest monthly total we’ve seen since we began issuing the report in January 2005,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a prepared statement. “Although only about 2 percent of households nationwide are in foreclosure, these properties contribute to already bloated inventories of homes for sale, and put downward pressure on home values. Areas of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona continue to be particularly hard-hit. Property tax bases are eroding, putting municipal budgets in peril.”