A new report shows Ohio has the fourth highest housing foreclosure rate in the nation — another troubling statistic for a state that, according to state officials, is supposed to be undergoing a major economic boom.
report from RealtyTrac
, a real estate information company, put Ohio’s foreclosure rate at 0.96 percent during the first half of 2013, a 2-percent increase from a comparable period in 2012.Ohio’s foreclosure rate beat only Florida (1.74 percent), Nevada (1.4 percent) and Illinois (1.2 percent) in the rankings.
Ohio’s bump up in foreclosures defies the national trend: Foreclosure starts are on track to hit about 800,000 this year, down from 1.1 million in 2012, according to RealtyTrac. The recovery follows the 2007-2008 recession and the housing crisis that helped cause it, which led to a spike in foreclosures.
State officials, particularly Gov. John Kasich, often claim Ohio has led the nation in job and economic growth following the recession, but recent statistics have raised doubts about the claim.
A June 16 infographic from Pew Charitable Trusts found Ohio was the No. 46 state for job creation between April 2012 and April of this year
, supporting claims from liberal and conservative think tanks thatOhio’s job growth has been stagnating in the past year
.Still, Ohio had a 7 percent unemployment rate in May, lower than the national rate of 7.6 percent.
The state also added 32,100 jobs in May — more than any other state for that month. Whether that job growth holds up will be made clearer on July 19, when the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will release state job numbers for June.
Kasich on June 30 signed a state budget approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly that Republicans claim will spur further job growth, but a CityBeat analysis
calls that claim into question
.
