Foreclosure growth in Ohio 2006

The number of Ohioans who lost their homes to foreclosure and sheriff sales continued to grow in 2005. Last year, foreclosure filings increased 8.5 percent, and the 63,996 filings represented one for every 71 Ohio households. In 61 of Ohio’s 88 counties, foreclosure filings have quadrupled over the last decade, as they have for the state as a whole.

Policy Matters Ohio analyzes foreclosure filing data from the Ohio Supreme Court in this July 2006 report, and provides data from its biennial survey of county sheriffs on auctions of foreclosed properties. Based on reports from 71 counties covering 86 percent of Ohio’s population, the number of properties put up for sheriff sale increased 4.6 percent in 2005 from a year earlier and 21.3 percent from 2003. Asked to rank the factors contributing to foreclosures, 31 of the 50 departments that responded said predatory lending was No. 1, while 11 cited job loss/weak economy.

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