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National Foreclosure Rates Drop but Many States Still see Increases

by devteam April 11th, 2013 | Share

Legal filings related to foreclosurerndeclined both in March and in the entire first quarter compared to previousrnperiods RealtyTrac said today.  Therncompany’s U.S. Foreclosure Report covering the month and quarter reported therernwere filings of some type on 152,500 properties in March, down 1 percent fromrnFebruary and 23 percent compared to March 2012. rn This was a rate of one filing forrnevery 859 housing units in the country on a monthly basis.</p

Filings during the first quarter affected 442,117rnproperties, down 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012 and 23 percent fromrnthe first quarter last year.  Filingsrnover the quarter impacted one in 296 housing units and were at the lowest levelrnsince the second quarter of 2007.</p

 “Although the overall nationalrnforeclosure trend continues to head lower, late-blooming foreclosures arernbolting higher in some local markets where aggressive foreclosure preventionrnefforts in previous years are wearing off,” said Daren Blomquist, vicernpresident at RealtyTrac. “Meanwhile, more recent foreclosure prevention effortsrnin other states have drastically increased the average time to foreclose, whichrncould result in a similar outbreak of delayed foreclosures down the road inrnthose states.”</p

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Irvine California based RealtyTrac followsrnforeclosure filings in three categories – Notice of Default or Lis Pendens,rnNotice of Trustee or Foreclosure Sale (foreclosure starts) , and Real EstaternOwned (REO) or bank repossessions.  </p

The 73,113rnforeclosure starts in February represented the second consecutive increase inrnthat category following three months when starts declined.  The change from January to February was +2rnpercent but was lower by 28 percent than in March 2012.  There were 43,597 bank repossessions duringrnthe month, down 3 percent from February, 21 percent from a year earlier, andrnthe fewest repossessions since 2007.  </p

The lengthrnof time needed to complete a foreclosure continues to increase.  The average timeline from first missedrnpayment to repossession was 477 days in the first quarter compared to 414 daysrnin Q4 2012 and 370 days Q1.</p

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There werernhuge state-to-state discrepancies in foreclosure times – ranging from 159 daysrnin Texas to 1,049 days in New York and 1,002 in New Jersey.  States with the longest timelines are almostrnall judicial foreclosure states but the states with the greatest increase inrnthe length of the process from the fourth quarter of 2012 were all non-judicialrnstates.  Oregon was up 61 percent,rnArkansas 42 percent, and Texas 40 percent</p

There was also a striking divergence</bin foreclosure activity between judicial and non-judicial states.  Activity in states using a judicial orrnquasi-judicial process saw a year-over-year increase of 4 percent in March and 6rnpercent in the first quarter while activity declined in non-judicial states byrn44 percent in both periods.</p

Foreclosure starts increased in 23rnstates in March compared to February and in 12 states compared to one yearrnearlier.  The largest increases were inrnNew York (+200 percent), Maryland (+193 percent), and Washington (+154 percent).  Bank repossessions increased on an annual basisrnin 16 states led by Arkansas (+121 percent), Maryland (+114 percent) andrnWashington (+88 percent.)</p

Florida continues to lead therncountry in foreclosure filings with 85,671 in the first quarter or one in everyrn104 housing units, nearly three times the national average.  The Florida rate in the first quarter was 7rnpercent higher than in the previous quarter and 17 percent above one yearrnearlier.  Seven of the ten metropolitanrnareas with the highest foreclosure rates are located in the state.</p

Nevada continues to be among thernmost foreclosure-plagued states with activity up 13 percent quarter overrnquarter.  One in every 115 housing units hadrna filing during the quarter and foreclosure starts in March were at an 18 monthrnhigh, 88 percent higher than one year earlier.</p

While Illinois saw foreclosurernactivity decrease 2 percent quarter-over-quarter and 5 percent year-over-yearrnit still had the nation’s third highest filing rate, one in every 147 housingrnunits.  Ohio, (one in every 188 housingrnunits) and Georgia (one in every 200 units despite three consecutive quartersrnof improvement) rounded out the top five. </p

Miami had the highest rate amongrnlarge metropolitan areas with one in every 79 housing units receiving arnfiling.  Orlando (one in 86 units) andrnOcala (one in 92 units) were second and third in the nation while Las Vegasrn(one in 99) and Jacksonville, Florida (one in 105) were fourth and fifth.

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About the Author

devteam

Steven A Feinberg (@CPAsteve) of Appletree Business Services LLC, is a PASBA member accountant located in Londonderry, New Hampshire.

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