A Credit to Money for publishing an intriguing and informativechart of housing data—including the change in the foreclosure rate over the past year—on the hundred biggest markets in the U.S. A scaled-down, and unfortunately more jumbled, version appears on the magazine’s Web site.
Normally, we don’t like a lot of numbers thrown at us—because they’re pretty much never self-explanatory. And as recent housing numbers demonstrate, they aren’t always trustworthy.
But in light of all we’ve been reading about the housing crisis, this chart is useful. Mostly because it makes regional differences so clear.
Look at the change in foreclosure rates in the West and South versus in the Northeast and Midwest, and you’ll see what we mean.
Money also offers some surprising details, like a decline in foreclosure rates in Austin, Texas, and Newark, New Jersey. The reasons for these anomalies might make an interesting story for some enterprising reporter.
Elinore Longobardi is a Fellow and staff writer of The Audit, the business-press section of Columbia Journalism Review.