Foreclosures hit 2-year low in Montgomery

Home foreclosures in Montgomery County are at their lowest level in two years, according to a county report released last week, the Gazette reports.

There were 1,428 foreclosure events in Montgomery in the third quarter of the year — July through September — data shows, down about 10 percent from the previous quarter.

According to the report, foreclosure events in the county have decreased more than 35 percent since the height of the foreclosure crisis -- between July 1 and Sept. 30, 2009. Foreclosure events also are at their lowest level in two years, when 1,124 events were recorded in the third quarter of 2008.

Foreclosure events include notices of default, notices of foreclosure sales and lender purchases of foreclosed properties. The median home price in Montgomery is about $355,439, according to a recent CountyStat report.

State officials credit the decline to Maryland's new foreclosure mediation law, which went into effect July 1. Under the law, when a lender notifies a homeowner about possible foreclosure, the lender also must provide details about options available to homeowners, including loan modification programs.

The majority of Montgomery's foreclosure events were in Montgomery Village, Darnestown, Burtonsville and Germantown — in the 20886, 20877, 20874, 20876 and 20866 Zip Codes, state data shows.

Read more about foreclosure numbers in the Gazette.