Foreclosure Activity Increased 3 Percent in October

IRVINE, Calif. — Nov. 15, 2012 — RealtyTrac’s  U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for October 2012 shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 186,455 U.S. properties in October, an increase of 3 percent from September but still down 19 percent from October 2011. The report also shows one in every 706 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

“We continued to see vastly different foreclosure trends across the country in October, depending primarily on how each state’s foreclosing infrastructure was able to handle the high volume of delinquent loans during the worst of the foreclosure crisis in 2010,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac.”Unfortunately the three states dealing with the biggest rebound in deferred foreclosure activity — New Jersey, New York and Connecticut — also had to deal with the devastation to homes inflicted by super storm Sandy. The foreclosure moratoriums being put into effect as a result of the storm will likely extend the already-lengthy time to foreclose in these states, further prolonging a fundamentally sound housing recovery.”

High-level findings from the report:

• The three states with the biggest annual increases in foreclosure activity in October were New Jersey (140 percent), New York (123 percent) and Connecticut (41 percent). Other states with sizable increases were Maryland (27 percent), Ohio (24 percent) and Illinois (19 percent).

• An analysis of foreclosure activity and inventory in the counties most impacted by super storm Sandy in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York shows foreclosure activity in October was down 8 percent from September but up 92 percent from a year ago, and an estimated $41 billion in foreclosure inventory in those counties.

• Florida posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the second month in a row, with one in every 312 housing units with a foreclosure filing in October, followed by Nevada, Illinois, California and Arizona.

• Scheduled foreclosure auctions in October increased 9 percent from September, while default notices and bank repossessions (REO) were virtually unchanged from the previous month.

• Foreclosure activity increased  on a month-over-month basis in more than half of the 212 metro areas tracked in the report, and jumped significantly in some hard-hit metro areas, including Modesto, Calif. (up 68 percent), Sarasota, Fla. (up 53 percent), Las Vegas, Nev. (up 45 percent), Columbus, Ohio (up 61 percent), and Columbia, S.C. (up 58 percent).

Analysis of foreclosure activity and rates in counties impacted by Sandy

In the 34 counties in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York that are being given individual assistance by FEMA, a total of 6,380 properties had foreclosure filings in October, down 8 percent from September but an increase of 92 percent from October 2011. Despite the sharp year-over-year increase, the foreclosure rate in those counties combined was less than half the national average: one in every 1,467 housing units with a foreclosure filing.

As of the end of October, total inventory of properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank owned in these counties was 124,608, up 15 percent from the previous month and up 54 percent from October 2011. The estimated combined market value of foreclosure inventory in the impacted counties was more than $41 billion.

Fannie Mae owned the biggest percentage of REO inventory of any lender in the impacted counties in all three states, with 29 percent in New York, 25 percent in New Jersey, and 22 percent in Connecticut. Other lenders with large percentages of REO inventory in the impacted counties included Wells Fargo, US BankCorp and Deutsche Bank.

Foreclosure starts increase from previous month, down from a year ago

Foreclosure starts — default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions, depending on the state — were filed for the first time on 89,209 U.S. properties in October, a 2 percent increase from September but still down 19 percent from October 2011 — the third straight month with an annual decrease in foreclosure starts.