IRVINE, CA-Foreclosure filings including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions were reported on 188,780 US properties in April, the lowest monthly total since July 2007, according to RealtyTrac’s US Foreclosure Market Report for April. Foreclosure activity decreased 5% from the previous month and was down 14% from April 2011; one in every 698 US housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.
“Rising foreclosure activity in many state and local markets in April was masked at the national level by sizeable decreases in hard-hit foreclosure states like California, Arizona and Nevada,” says Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac. “Those three states, and several other non-judicial foreclosure states like them, more efficiently processed foreclosures last year, resulting in fewer catch-up foreclosures this year.” Moore adds that more distressed loans are being diverted into short sales rather than becoming completed foreclosures, and that pre-foreclosure sales—which are typically short sales—are on pace to outnumber sales of bank-owned properties during the quarter in California, Arizona and 10 other states.
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Among the 20 largest metro areas, cities posting the biggest annual drops in foreclosure activity included Seattle (54%), Phoenix (44%), San Francisco (34%), Washington, D.C. (30%), Riverside-San Bernardino, CA (30%), and Los Angeles (28%). The 11 cities with annual increases in foreclosure activity were all in the Midwest, South or on the East Coast, while six of the nine cities with annual decreases were in the western states of California, Arizona and Washington.
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Bank repossessions decreased on a monthly basis for the third straight month in April, down 7% from March. For the top five lenders in the country, total REOs peaked in February and have significantly decreased since then.
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Lenders completed the foreclosure process on 51,415 US properties during the month, down 26% from April 2011—the 18th consecutive month with a year-over-year decrease in REOs. Total REOs for all except the top five lenders peaked in January and have steadily declined since then.
To see RealtyTrac's complete report, click here. For more information on distressed asset investments, click here.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
