Q1 Foreclosures Drop Again

IRVINE, CA— RealtyTrac , the nation’s leading source for comprehensive housing data, says first quarter foreclosure activity was below pre-recession levels in 78 out of 216 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (36%) analyzed in a first-quarter report.

Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, says foreclosures are tracking toward normal, healthy levels.

The firm released its Q1 and March 2016 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 289,116 U.S. properties in the first quarter of 2016, down 4% from the previous quarter and down 8% from the first quarter of 2015 to the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2006, a more than nine-year low. “Despite a seasonal bump higher in March, foreclosure activity in most markets continues to trend lower and back toward more healthy, stable levels,” said Daren Blomquist , senior vice president at RealtyTrac. “More than one-third of the 216 local markets we analyzed were below their pre-recession foreclosure activity averages in the first quarter, and we would expect a growing number of markets to move below that milestone the rest of this year — while the number of markets with a lingering low-grade fever of foreclosure activity continues to shrink.” Nationwide, the 289,116 properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter was still 4 % higher than the pre-recession quarterly average of 278,912 properties with foreclosure filings from Q1 2006 through Q3 2007. Among 216 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, a total of 78 (36 percent) posted Q1 2016 foreclosure activity below pre-recession average levels, including Los Angeles (27% below pre-recession average); Dallas (65% below pre-recession average); Houston (64 percent below pre-recession average); Miami (19% below pre-recession average); and Atlanta (57% below pre-recession average). There were still 138 of the 216 major metro areas (64%) with Q1 2016 foreclosure activity above pre-recession average levels, including New York (80% above pre-recession average); Chicago (17% above pre-recession average); Philadelphia (97 % above pre-recession average); Washington, D.C. metro (134% above pre-recession average); and Boston (46% above pre-recession average). Nationwide the 289,116 properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2016 was 69% below the quarterly peak of 937,840 properties with foreclosure filings in the second quarter of 2009.