9:45am | RealtyTrac today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for January, showing foreclosure filings were up 1% from the previous month, but down 17% from January 2010. But the year-over-year drop may be more of a sign that lenders are too understaffed to deal with all the paperwork that goes along with foreclosures, than a sign of recovery in the housing market, one of the report’s author’s states.
The report shows one in every 497 housing units in the U.S. received a foreclosure filing during the month.
“We’ve now seen three straight months with fewer than 300,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings, following 20 straight months where the total exceeded 300,000,” James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement. “Unfortunately this is less a sign of a robust housing recovery and more a sign that lenders have become bogged down in reviewing procedures, resubmitting paperwork and formulating legal arguments related to accusations of improper foreclosure processing.”
Long Beach’s foreclosure rate isn’t broken out in the report, but the city has been plagued by foreclosures like the rest of the nation.
California REO activity rose 32% in January from December, and the state posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate. One in every 200 California housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, according to the report.
Five states accounted for more than 50% of national foreclosure total. California accounted for more than one-fourth of the national total in January. California foreclosure activity has actually increased on a month-over-month basis for two straight months, the report shows.
Florida was still the second highest in the nation. Michigan posted the nation’s third highest total. Arizona ranked fourth, while Texas posted the nation’s fifth highest total.
Other states with foreclosure activity totals among the nation’s 10 highest in January were Illinois (13,164), Georgia (12,772), Nevada (12,263), Ohio (8,924) and New Jersey (5,526).
With one in every 82 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in January, the Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., metro area maintained the nation’s highest foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of 200,000 or more, the report states. Seven California metro areas posted foreclosure rates in the top 10: Modesto (one in 111 housing units); Stockton (one in 114 housing units); Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (one in 120 housing units); Vallejo-Fairfield (one in 135 housing units); Bakersfield (one in 143); Merced (one in 149); and Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville (one in 151).