RealtyTrac: Fewer Localities have Persistent Foreclosure Problems

There was a significant uptick inrnforeclosure filings in July according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure MarketrnReport.  The company said however that filingsrnincluding default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions continuernto ratchet down on an annual basis.  </p

Filings were reported on 109,434rnproperties during the month, up 2 percent from June but 16 percent lower thanrnin July 2013.  One in every 1,203 U.S.rnhousing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.  </p

“July was the 46^{th</supconsecutive month} where U.S. foreclosure activity was down on a year-over-yearrnbasis,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “After nearly fourrnyears of falling foreclosures, we are starting to see evidence that foreclosurernnumbers are normalizing at the national level. The 16 percent decrease in Julyrnwas exactly half the annual decrease we saw a year ago in July 2013, when U.S.rnforeclosure activity was down 32 percent on a year-over-year basis. </p

“The number of state and localrnmarkets with persistent foreclosure problems is becoming fewer and fartherrnbetween, although there were some surprise spikes in foreclosure activity inrnJuly in markets that had previously been experiencing long-term downward trendsrnin foreclosure activity,” Blomquist noted. “For example, Houston foreclosurernactivity jumped 66 percent in July compared to a year ago following 23rnconsecutive months of decreases, and Los Angeles foreclosure activity was up 10rnpercent from a year ago following 31 consecutive months of decreases.”</p

There were just under 50,000rnforeclosure starts during the month, up 5 percent from July but 18 percentrnbelow the number in July 2013.  It wasrnthe 24^th month in which foreclosure starts declined.  Still, fourteen states bucked the trend.  Starts in Nevada were up 128 percent from arnyear earlier and more modest increases were noted in Texas (+29 percent), NewrnYork (+17 percent), Massachusetts (+12 percent), and Michigan (+6 percent).</p

Foreclosure auctions were scheduledrnfor the first time on a total of 51,595 properties, up 10 percent from June butrn3 percent lower than a year earlier. rnAuctions in judicial process states were up 26 percent on a monthly basisrnbut down 7 percent year-over-year.  Scheduledrnauctions also increased in 20 states, notably in New Jersey with a 105 percentrnincrease, Oregon which was up 50 percent, Louisiana and Utah which increased 32rnpercent and 30 percent respectively.  </p

Completed foreclosures</bdecreased by 4 percent from June to 25,937. rnThis was a drop of 30 percent from July 2013 and the fewestrnrepossessions since April 2007.  Completedrnforeclosures were up in Maryland by 77 percent compared to a year earlier.  California, Oregon, and New Jersey also saw arnhigher number of completed foreclosures than in the previous July withrnincreases of 22, 13, and 12 percent respectively.  </p