Foreclosures in Québec Decrease for a Third Consecutive Year in 2012

In 2012, 1,469 residential properties in Québec were foreclosed by their mortgage lender, a 16 per cent decrease compared to 2011. This was the third consecutive annual decrease in foreclosures, after reaching a peak in 2009 (2,503 foreclosures). Based on these results, we estimate that the proportion of foreclosures across Québec represents one property out of 1,387, compared to one property out of 1,164 in 2011.The lender of the mortgage that is in default normally issues a two-month notice of exercise1, warning the holder of the defaulted mortgage that his property will be seized if the outstanding payment is not made. The borrower normally tries to find a way to repay the amount owed; selling the property, in this case, may be a good option as it allows the borrower to repay the mortgage loan. The property is seized if the borrower is not able to repay the amount owed or any other amount due. In addition, there are a few cases of voluntary relinquishments every year in Québec. This is a situation in which the owners give the keys to their property back to the mortgage lender even before receiving a notice of exercise. In 2012, there were 216 homeowners who chose to hand over the keys to their property, the same number as in 2011.The number of homeowners who received a first notice of exercise decreased by 4 per cent in 2012 – the third consecutive annual drop – with 5,175 cases reported. The decrease in the number of first notices of exercise is coherent with the decrease in the number of foreclosures in Québec in 2012 and is also consistent with Canadian Bankers Association data on outstanding mortgages showing that, on average, 0.32 per cent of mortgages in Québec were in arrears of 90 days or more in 2012, compared to 0.34 per cent in 2011 and 0.36 per cent in 2010.Although the number of foreclosures and first notices of exercise decreased across the province, some differences were observed across Québec’s administrative regions. The number of foreclosures increased in five of the 17 administrative regions, those being Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Bas-Saint-Laurent, Capitale-Nationale, Gaspésie –Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Montérégie. Table 1 shows the number of foreclosures, first notices of exercise and voluntary relinquishments across the different regions.