Foreclosures in Greater Minnesota higher than expected

The wave of foreclosures swamping greater Minnesota may be twice as large as previously reported by national studies, housing officials heard at a recent GreaterMinnesota Foreclosure Crisis Summit in St. Cloud.

The new study quantified for the first time the number of actual sheriff sales of foreclosed properties county by county in Minnesota in 2006. It found a stunning 11,207 foreclosures statewide, nearly double the 5,995 reported in a national study conducted by RealtyTrac, a leading provider of real estate industry data, over the same period.

The study, which covered the 80 counties outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area (Greater Minnesota), was commissioned by Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and prepared by HousingLink, a Minneapolis-based research organization that providesinformation to housing organizations and policymakers.

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