The good news is that July's total of 1,288 is much better than year-earlier levels; the bad news is that July 2009 was the peak of the crisis and we're still above normal.
In yet another sign that the New York City residential real estate market is fairing better than the rest of the nation's, the number of lis pendens filed on properties in the five boroughs in July was down 32% from the levels of a year earlier, according to new data PropertyShark.com.
Lis pendens, the formal notice given to a homeowner who has not paid the mortgage on a property for three consecutive months and which starts the foreclosure process, is a more current indicator of distress than the number of foreclosures. That is especially true in New York, where it takes much longer for a property to be foreclosed upon, according to Bill Staniford, chief executive of PropertyShark.com. Typically, the lis pendens notice gives the homeowner time to refinance or sell the property to an investor at a deep discount without having to go through a lengthy legal process.
In July, 1,288 properties—single- and two-family homes as well as condominium apartments—had lis pendens filings. All five boroughs recorded a year-over-year decline in filings, with Staten Island leading the way with a 41% drop in filings from a year ago with a total of 140 for July.
“The New York economy seems to have gotten better,” said Brian Scully, vice president of marketing at PropertyShark. “Things are stabilizing.”
Only the Bronx showed a hint of negative news. That borough saw a slight monthly uptick in lis pendens filings to 172 in July, up 8% from the previous month.
But Mr. Staniford remains cautious. He warns that while the results show a sharp improvement, the month they are being compared with, July 2009, was when lis pendens filings hit a peak of 1,890 filings. He added that last month's total is still above normal levels, and there are still signs of distress in the city to be concerned about.
“I don't see a recovery yet. We had a good run in the stock market earlier this year, but then it kind of gave out,” said Mr. Staniford, adding that lis pendens is a three-month lagging indicator of the current market conditions. “All the macroeconomic indicators are negative now. It's hard to think positively with the current climate.”
