February 10, 2011 (Chris Moore)
RealtyTrac released it monthly Foreclosure Market Report for January 2011 which reveals that foreclosure filings increased 1 percent in January compared to December, but was down 17 percent from a year earlier. A total of 261,333 U.S. properties received a foreclosure filing in January, which equates to one in every 497 housing units nationwide.
California, Nevada and Arizona continued to top the list of states with the most foreclosure filings. Nevada bank repossessions increased 16 percent from the previous month where one in every 93 housing units received a foreclosure filing.
Arizona’s foreclosure activity increased 16 percent from the previous month, in which one in every 175 housing units received a foreclosure filing, and California’s foreclosure activity increased 32 percent where one in every 200 housing units received a foreclosure filing.
California accounted for more than 25 percent of the national total with 67,072 properties receiving a foreclosure filing. California hit a 25 month low in foreclosure activity in November but subsequently has seen an increase in month over month activity for the last two months.
Idaho and Utah rounded out the top five states in foreclosure activity where one in every 241 units and one in every 265 units received foreclosure filings, respectively.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top ten were Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, and Colorado.
Five states accounted for 50 percent of all foreclosure activity. Along with California, Florida had a total of 21,671 filings, Michigan had a total of 16,716 filings, Arizona had a total of 15,757 filings, and Arizona had a total of 14,897 foreclosure filings.
Rounding out the top ten were Illinois (13,164), Georgia (12,772), Nevada (12,263), Ohio (8,924) and New Jersey (5,526).
In all, a total of 75,198 U.S. properties received default notices (NOD, LIS) in January, a 1 percent decrease from the previous month and a 27 percent decrease from January 2010, the 12th straight month where default notices decreased on a year-over-year basis.
Default notices in states with a non-judicial foreclosure process (NOD) increased less than 1 percent from the previous month but were down 8 percent from January 2010, while default notices in states with a judicial foreclosure process (LIS) decreased 2 percent from December and were down 39 percent from January 2010.
Foreclosure auctions (NTS, NFS) were scheduled for the first time on a total of 108,002 U.S. Properties in January, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month and a 13 percent decrease from January 2010.
Scheduled non-judicial foreclosure auctions (NFS) decreased 1 percent from December and were down 3 percent from January 2010, while scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions (NTS) decreased 14 percent from the previous month and were down 39 percent from January 2010.
And finally, scheduled non-judicial foreclosure auctions (NFS) decreased 1 percent from December and were down 3 percent from January 2010, while scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions (NTS) decreased 14 percent from the previous month and were down 39 percent from January 2010.
“We’ve now seen three straight months with fewer than 300,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings, following 20 straight months where the total exceeded 300,000,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Unfortunately this is less a sign of a robust housing recovery and more a sign that lenders have become bogged down in reviewing procedures, resubmitting paperwork and formulating legal arguments related to accusations of improper foreclosure processing.”
Nevada and California topped the top ten metropolitan areas receiving a foreclosure filing by holding nine out of the ten spots with the Las Vegas-Paradise area taking the top spot. Nevada had two metro areas in the top ten and California held seven of the top ten spots.
Tags: realtytrac, foreclosure filings, notice of defaults, repossessions, foreclosures, housing units
