
Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama State is in Jefferson County. A part of the city is included in Shelby County. It is also the biggest city in Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman Combined Statistical Area and is known in common parlance as Greater Birmingham. Approximately a quarter of the population of Alabama reside here. The population of Greater Birmingham has been estimated to be 1.7 million in 2008.
The population growth of a region indicates its economic health. At the turn of the century Birmingham had been forging ahead at the fastest pace possible. It came to be known by various pet names – the Magic City, the Pittsburg of the South etc. But foreclosure listings in Birmingham have totally changed the scene. They have made the city part of the housing crisis that is gripping the rest of the country.
The economy of Birmingham mainly focused on iron and steel but during the course of the last century it has diversified to include other sectors like banking, publishing, insurance, medicines as well as biotechnology amongst others. From 1990 Birmingham has showed a strong per capita income.
Foreclosure have gone up because of the housing crisis that was triggered by the peddling of sub-prime mortgages at teaser rates. These mortgages were necessitated by a huge demand for housing during the boom years. The burgeoning economy led to the population shifting to the suburbs and it is these areas that began to develop fast. But the situation could not be sustained and this led to innumerable foreclosure listings in Birmingham. Foreclosure listings in Birmingham keep on climbing as more houses are being foreclosed upon causing the real estate market prices to tumble.
However the foreclosure listings in Birmingham show that the position here is better than the rest of the country. In January foreclosure listings in Birmingham went up but Alabama continued to rank low on the foreclosure list. In the state the filings increased by 25% in January 2009 from December 2008. It was however a jump of 58% from January 2008 according to RealtyTrac.
In January 2009 there were 920 foreclosure postings in Alabama counting to a foreclosure rate of 1:2,323. This has made the state be ranked 39 in the foreclosure rate race.
Across the country there were 274,399 foreclosures listed with a foreclosure rate of 1:466. The number of filings increased in the country by 10% in January from December 2008 and by 18% from January 2008.