Foreclosures Down One Third from 2010

Foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in August, but they are still down nearly 33 percent from August 2010. Foreclosure activity on a year over year basis now has been down for 11 straight months.

RealtyTrac reported today that though August foreclosure activity, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions, was down from 2010, default notices were up, suggesting more properties are entering the foreclosure process.

Default notices were filed for the first time on a total of 78,880 U.S. properties in August, a nine-month high and a 33 percent increase from July — the biggest month-over-month increase since August 2007. Despite the monthly increase, default notices were still down 18 percent from August 2010 and were 44 percent below the monthly peak of 142,064 default notices in April 2009.

Default notices increased more than 40 percent on a month-over-month basis in several states, including New Jersey (42 percent), Indiana (46 percent) and California (55 percent), but were still down from a year ago in all of those states.

“The big increase in new foreclosure actions may be a signal that lenders are starting to push through some of the foreclosures delayed by robo-signing and other documentation problems,” said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process.”

Foreclosure auctions (NTS, NFS) were scheduled for 84,405 U.S. properties in August, a decrease of 1 percent from the previous month and a decrease of 43 percent from August 2010. Foreclosure auctions hit a 37-month low in August and were 47 percent below the monthly peak of 158,105 scheduled auctions in March 2010.

Despite the nationwide decrease, scheduled auctions were up substantially from the previous month in several states where the auction notice is the first public notice in the foreclosure process: Oregon (19 percent), Arizona (20 percent), Georgia (22 percent), and Colorado (51 percent). Scheduled auctions were still down from a year ago in all of those states.

Lenders repossessed a total of 64,813 U.S. properties (REOs) in August, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month and a 32 percent decrease from August 2010. The REO total in August marked a six-month low and was 37 percent below the monthly peak of 102,134 bank repossessions in September 2010.

Nevada posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the 56th straight month in August, with one in every 118 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month. There were a total of 9,677 Nevada properties with foreclosure filings in August, a 3 percent decrease from the previous month and a 28 percent decrease from August 2010.

Nevada’s overall decrease was driven by a 30 percent month-over-month drop in scheduled auctions and a 6 percent month-over-month decrease in REOs. Default notices in Nevada increased 31 percent from July, but were still down 32 percent from August 2010.

A 55 percent month-over-month increase in default notices helped keep California’s foreclosure rate second highest among the states in August. One in every 226 California housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month — more than twice the national average. Scheduled auctions and REOs in California were down on both a monthly and annual basis.

With one in every 248 housing units with a foreclosure filing in August, Arizona posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate for the second month in a row. Scheduled foreclosure auctions in Arizona increased 20 percent from the previous month, but were still down 31 percent from August 2010. Arizona REOs decreased 6 percent from the previous month and were down 36 percent from August 2010.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and Utah.