University of Wisconsin - Extension

The number of foreclosure court cases in Wisconsin rose from 6,407 in 2000 to 23,263 in 2008, according to Andy Lewis, University of Wisconsin-Extension community development specialist. State foreclosure cases increased 21 percent over the past year.

Some counties experienced a rapid annual increase in foreclosure activity in 2008, such as Dane (up 46.9 percent), Sauk (up 58.5 percent) and Racine (up 39.9 percent), while other foreclosure hotspots in the state saw a slower rate. Milwaukee County, which was the source of 24 percent of the state’s foreclosure cases in the past two years, had a 51 percent annual increase in 2007, but dropped to a 10.8 percent increase in 2008.

“While nearly half of the state’s foreclosure court cases in the last two years have been located in urban counties--Milwaukee, Waukesha, Dane, Brown, Kenosha, Racine and Rock Counties--rural counties are also feeling the pain,” says Lewis. St. Croix County tops the list of rural counties with high foreclosure rates reporting one foreclosure for every 55 housing units in the county.

Lewis points out that while the situation in Wisconsin is serious, the state is not faring as badly as some other parts of the country. Foreclosure rates in Wisconsin are lower than the national average. For example, the Mortgage Bankers Association reports that 2.57 percent of the loans in inventory in Wisconsin in the third quarter of 2008 were being foreclosed. That compared to 2.97 percent for the nation, or 7.32 percent in Florida, 5.58 percent in Nevada, and 3.9 percent in California, Arizona and Ohio.

“The data provided by the University of Wisconsin-Extension gives us a clear picture of the foreclosure situation in the state,” says Antonio Riley, executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). “This information is really important as we look at creating awareness and building capacity of non-profit credit counseling agencies around the state.”

WHEDA distributes National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program grants to HUD-certified counseling agencies around the state and urges people who are behind on their mortgages to contact their bank or a nonprofit counseling agency for help. A list of resources can be found at WHEDA’s website: http://www.WisconsinForeclosureResource.com

Visit UW-Extension’s Center for Community and Economic Development website at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/index.cfm for more information related to housing in Wisconsin.