Florida Foreclosure Activity Drops 22% in December, but Bank Repos Spike more than 45% in Nevada, Arizona and California
RealtTrac today released its Year-End 2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings were reported on a record 2.8 million properties in 2010.
The report reflects an increase of nearly 2% from 2009 and an increase of 23% from 2008. According to the report, one in 45 homes received at least one foreclosure filing during the year.
However, numbers for the end of 2010 reflect marked improvement. Some Long Beach area realtors believe the area also felt some rebound in foreclosures toward the end of the year. If you are in the real estate market, and you want to weigh in on foreclosures in the local market, please email [email protected]. I will put together a follow up story and may include your comments. Please include the name of your firm in the e-mail.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 257,747 properties nationwide in December, a drop of nearly 2% from the previous month. That number was down 26% from December 2009, and according to the report’s authors, that’s the biggest annual drop in foreclosure activity since RealtyTrac began publishing its foreclosure report in January 2005.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 799,064 U.S. properties in the fourth quarter, a 14% decrease from the previous quarter and an 8% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2009. The fourth quarter total was the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2008.
“Total properties receiving foreclosure filings would have easily exceeded 3 million in 2010 had it not been for the fourth quarter drop in foreclosure activity — triggered primarily by the continuing controversy surrounding foreclosure documentation and procedures that prompted many major lenders to temporarily halt some foreclosure proceedings,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. “Even so, 2010 foreclosure activity still hit a record high for our report, and many of the foreclosure proceedings that were stopped in late 2010 — which we estimate may be as high as a quarter million — will likely be re-started and add to the numbers in early 2011.”
“I’m really not surprised by the year-over-year changes or by the drop in December 2010,” said Richard Daskam, an agent with Keller Williams Realty, who focuses on the Long Beach area market. “While our local homes had a high number of foreclosures in 2010, it wasn’t the ‘flood’ that everyone was expecting. I talk to more owners that either have tried to modify their loans or are still trying, than people that aren’t or haven’t tried to modify their loans. A lot of these foreclosure filings are on owners that simply want to modify their loans and/or do a short sale but the banks won’t talk to them until they are behind on their payments. In many ways, the high number of foreclosures and negative news is caused by the lenders themselves because they won’t consider short sales or loan modifications until the loans are in default.”
More than 9% of Nevada housing units (one in 11) received at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, giving it the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the fourth consecutive year. That’s despite a 5% decrease in foreclosure activity from 2009, according to RealtyTrac. Nevada foreclosure activity in December rose 18% from the previous month and was up 14% from December 2009. Fourth quarter foreclosure activity in Nevada dropped nearly 7% from the previous quarter but rose 19% from the fourth quarter of 2009.
Arizona registered the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the second year in a row, with one in 17 housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing in 2010, and Florida registered the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, with one in 18 housing units receiving at least one foreclosure filing during the year.
With roughly one in 25 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, California made the list of states with 2010 foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest. Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado also made the list.
California, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan accounted for half of national total of foreclosures in 2010. Together the five states documented nearly 1.5 million properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the year, the report shows.
A total of 546,669 California properties received a foreclosure filing in 2010, a decrease of nearly 14% from 2009 but still the largest state total. After hitting a two-year low in November, California foreclosure activity rebounded nearly 15% higher in December but was still down 18% from December 2009, according to the report.