Dakota County Foreclosure Numbers Continue to Decline

After peaking in 2010, the total number of foreclosures in Dakota County is slowly falling, according to the most recent data released by the Dakota County Community Development Agency.

The total number of Sheriff Sales countywide in the first 11 months of 2012 was 1,422, compared to 1,821 for the same period last year. In November 2012, 117 Sheriff Sales occurred, a marked decrease from the 191 sales in November 2011.

A Sheriff Sale is the final step of the foreclosure process, when the assets seized in a foreclosure are publicly auctioned.

In 2007, Dakota County officials began noticing a significant upswing in the number of notices of pendency—the first step in the foreclosure process—and Sheriff Sales. A Notice of Pendency is filed by a mortgage company's attorney as official notification that the foreclosure process has begun. Not all of these result in Sheriff Sales.

The number of foreclosures hit a high point in 2010, when 2,147 Sheriff Sales took place countywide, according to data provided Dakota County. Last year, a total of 1,985 Sheriff Sales were recorded.

Logically, the largest number of foreclosures are concentrated in the most populous communities in Dakota County. Eagan, Burnsville, Lakeville and Apple Valley all totated well over 200 foreclosures in 2011, with Burnsville experiencing the highest rate of foreclosures, according to county numbers.

Click here to view a map of all recorded Sheriff Sales in Dakota County in 2012.