Foreclosure sales spiked in the first month of 2012. Sales in non-judicial states outpaced judicial by over three to one, exacerbating the backlog of foreclosures soon to reach local real estate markets in states where court orders are required to foreclose on homes.

While foreclosure inventories in judicial states still far outweigh those in non-judicial, the recent surge in foreclosure sales is having a significant impact on pipeline ratios. Even in judicial states, the average pipeline ratio is now at 63 months; still more than twice as high as non-judicial states. This is down from a high of 147 months at its peak in February of 2011, according January data in LPS’ First Look release of its Mortgage Monitor report. The spike in foreclosure activity may be a precursor to the release of hundreds of thousands of backlogged foreclosures unplugged by the multi-state attorneys general settlement concluded last month.

The January mortgage performance data also showed that new problem loan rates are still relatively low nationally at 1.4 percent. Still, pockets of trouble exist, and the top five states for new seriously delinquent loans in January were Nevada, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona and Georgia, respectively.

As reported in LPS’ First Look release, other key results from LPS’ latest Mortgage Monitor report include:

Total U.S. loan delinquency rate: 7.97 percent

Month-over-month change in delinquency rate: -2.2 percent

Total U.S foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 4.15 percent

Month-over-month change in foreclosure pre-sale inventory rate: 1.1 percent

States with highest percentage of non-current* loans: FL, MS, NV, NJ, IL

States with the lowest percentage of non-current* loans: MT, AK, WY, SD, ND