Foreclosures in the Region
Foreclosure Trends
| Foreclosures continue to plague the housing market, and as long as this is the case, new home building will be muted. In addition to the deleterious effects on the housing market, the foreclosure crisis is associated with so many other things - income and income security, household composition, property values and race. This section maps the foreclosure trends (the "Map It!" Tab, developed in Weave), and shows how a variety housing and income data are all related. In this example, select the areas in the scatter plot (each dot represents an area on the map) with the greatest number of bankruptcies and, on the map, compare the number of foreclosure filings in those areas. This section also provides raw county- and metro-level data that shows that more foreclosures are in the pipeline. To see other foreclosure related data, go to the Atlanta Regional Commission's latest foreclosure Snapshot. |  |
Click me! Instructions on using Weave
Instructions for manipulating the map and the scatter plot:
The data on both the map and the scatterplot are linked, meaning that if you select data on the scatterplot, the corresponding areas on the map will be highlighted.
Map: To change the variable being mapped, click on the legend title ("Population Change Per Square Mile, 2000-2010") and select a category from the left side of the table and a variable from the right side of the table.
Scatter plot: To change the variables on the X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) axes, simply click on the title and select different variables for each axis. Also notice the thin line - this is a regression line that shows "neatness" of fit. It shows the relationship between the two variables. Any point that is a significant distance from the line is an "outlier," meaning that the expected relationship (the line) does not hold.
If you are interested in a small area, choose the "select" tool - underneath the zoom bar on the map - and draw a box around the area that you want to analyze in-depth. Then on the menu bar, click "Subsets", then "Create subsets from selected records." You'll notice that both the legend and the scatter plot changed to reflect only the area that was selected.
In addition to the 2010 Census variables, the map uses data from Equity Depot and LexisNexis, with the latter being a unique data-sharing agreement with Neighborhood Nexus. The county level foreclosure table also uses data from Equity Depot, but the metro-level chart uses data from LPS Applied Analytics as analyzed by LISC. Specifically, here are the sources for each variable:
Foreclosures
Source: Equity Depot
Years: 2007-2010
Explanation: The data represent foreclosure filings, i.e. those properties that are going up for auction on the courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of every month. Equity Depot collects these data monthly, but supplied Neighborhood Nexus with aggregated, small-area data for the years 2007-2010.
Bankruptcies
Source: LexisNexis
Years: Varies
Explanation: LexisNexis has vast data holdings and agreed to enter into a one-of-its-kind data sharing agreement with Neighborhood Nexus. The bankruptcy data represent all current bankruptcies ("Current Bankruptcies") as well as historical bankruptcies going back ten years ("Chapter 13 Bankruptcy"). For more information about bankruptcies in general, go here.
Assessed Value
Source: LexisNexis
Years: Most current assessment
Explanation: This shows the most current assessment of residential property, averaged across a census tract. Since assessor data can be unreliable, the top five percent and bottom five percent of individual property values were removed to "smooth" the data.
Delinquency and Foreclosure Rate - Metro Level
Source: LPS Applied Analytics (analysis by the Local Support Initiatives Corporation (LISC)
Year: December 2010
Explanation: This data shows the percent of all mortgages that are 90 or more days delinquent or already in the foreclosure inventory (referred to as "seriously delinquent"). This is a measure showing a foreclosure "pipeline," meaning that more properties are likely to fall into foreclosure in the coming months.
All other variables used in this map are either 2010 Census data, or derived from the above sources.