The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority announced this week that 35 percent of all its home mortgage customers have purchased REOs, a new record for the housing authority. So far in 2008, CHFA has closed over $100 million in mortgage loans for previously foreclosed REO properties.
“This is an extremely positive sign for Colorado’s housing market,” said Milroy A. Alexander, CHFA’s CEO and executive director. “Foreclosures have been weighing down the market and created a burden on our community. As individuals and families begin to buy these previously abandoned homes, we will see our neighborhoods awaken and become reenergized.”
According to CHFA, the average loan amount for REO properties is $131,345, compared to a $153,289 average loan for its non-REO home mortgage customers. The top Colorado cities where CHFA customers are buying REO properties are Aurora, Denver, and Colorado Springs.

Earlier this month, Colorado’s Division of Housing reported foreclosure filings in the state were up 16 percent for the first half of the year. The total number of foreclosure filings in Colorado for 2008 had reached 22,500 at the end of the second quarter. The division predicts that the state is on pace to see a 10 to 20 percent annual increase in foreclosures by the end of the year.
“Perhaps we are beginning to see a silver-lining in the housing crisis. First-time homebuyers who were struggling to find affordable housing in Colorado’s booming market, now have new options in the foreclosed housing stock,” Alexander indicated. “CHFA stands ready to assist these buyers in not only achieving, but sustaining homeownership through our fixed-rate mortgage products, down payment, and closing cost assistance. The financial resources made available to Colorado under the recently signed Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 will help us continue this important work.”
Ninety-three percent of CHFA loan purchases for REO homes this year have been made by first-time homebuyers. All of the housing authority’s loans reflect owner-occupied households. Regulations governing CHFA do not allow CHFA to finance investor-owned properties.
The CHFA was created by the Colorado Legislature in 1973 to provide affordable home loans to low- and moderate-income homebuyers. The agency receives no tax dollars, but gets its funding from non- state-issued bonds.