The drop in activity held across allrntypes of filings in April.  Defaultrnnotices were filed for the first time on 63,422 properties, down 14 percentrnfrom March and 39 percent from the April 2010. rnDefault notices had taken a big jump in March, up 16 percent; April’srnfigures are close to the 48-month low reached in February.</p

Foreclosure auctions were scheduledrnfor the first time on 86,304 properties, 7 percent fewer than in March and 37rnpercent less than one year earlier.  Thisrnmonth’s numbers represent a 31 month low.</p

Lenders foreclosed on 69,532 U.S.rnproperties in April, down 5 percent from March and down 25 percent from Aprilrn2010, but bank repossessions (REOs) were still above a 22-month low hit inrnFebruary 2011.</p

Judicial foreclosure states registeredrna 3 percent decrease in overall foreclosure activity from March and a 47rnpercent decrease in overall foreclosure activity from April 2010. States with arnnon-judicial foreclosure process posted an 11 percent month-over-month decreasernand 26 percent year-over-year decrease in activity.  For the 52nd straight month Nevadarnled the states in foreclosures with one in every 97 housing units receiving a foreclosurernfiling. Overall filings were down 9 percent from March but bank repossessionsrnwere up 23 percent month-over month and were the highest recorded sincernRealtyTrac began covering Nevada filings in April 2005.  </p

While overall activity decreased 15rnpercent in Arizona, REO’s increased 22 percent, keeping the state in secondrnplace for the fifth consecutive month. rnOne in every 205 housing units received a foreclosure filing.  Likewise a 22 percent jump in REOs keptrnCalifornia in third place for a sixth month despite an overall decline inrnactivity.  One in every 240 housing unitsrnwas affected during the month.  Other statesrnin the top five were Utah (1:322 units) and Idaho (1:325).</p

RealtyTrac’s CEO James J. Saccacio warnedrnthat the decrease in filings could be temporary.  “This slowdown continues to be largely thernresult of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of arnhousing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure. </p

“The first delay occurs betweenrndelinquency and foreclosure, when lenders and services are no longerrnautomatically pushing loans that are more than 90 days delinquent intornforeclosure but are waiting longer to allow for loan modifications, short salesrnand possibly other disposition alternatives,” Saccacio continued. “Data fromrnthe Mortgage Bankers Association shows that about 3.7 million properties are inrnthis seriously delinquent stage. The second delay occurs after foreclosure hasrnstarted, when lenders are taking much longer than they were just a few yearsrnago to complete the foreclosure process.”</p

RealtyTrac found that the timelinernfor a foreclosure continues to extend. rnRealtyTrac reports that foreclosures completed in the first quarter tookrnan average of 400 days to complete from the time the first notice of defaultrnwas filed to the point of bank repossession. rnThis is up from 340 days during the first quarter of 2010 and more thanrndouble the average of 151 days it took during the same period of 2007 whenrnforeclosures were still a bit of a rarity. </p

Foreclosures in some states tookrneven longer than the 400 day national average. rnIn New Jersey and New York the average time frame was more than 900rndays.  This was more than triple the timerna foreclosure took in either of those states in 2007.  In Florida the recent average is 619 daysrncompared to 169 days in the pre-crisis era. rn</p

In terms of numbers, ten statesrnaccount for 70 percent of all foreclosure activity.  The first two, California with 55,869 filingsrnand Florida with 19,649 and the fourth, Michigan with 12,996 are populousrnstates.  However, Arizona and Nevada,rnwith relatively small populations rank in the top five by virtue of numbers asrnwell as foreclosure rate with 13,419 filings and 11,761 filingsrnrespectively.  The next five states arernIllinois, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, and Colorado.

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