RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2015, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 104,111 U.S. properties in November, a decrease of nearly 10 percent from the previous month and down more than 7 percent from a year ago. The report also shows one in every 1,268 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.
The 10 percent monthly decrease in overall foreclosure activity was caused largely by a 15 percent monthly drop in foreclosure starts, with 41,208 properties starting the foreclosure process for the first time in November, the lowest monthly total since May 2005. Foreclosure starts have decreased on a monthly basis for seven of the last eight months — with the exception of a monthly increase in October — and November was the fifth consecutive month where national foreclosure starts decreased on a year-over year basis.
“Banks are continuing to work through the backlog of lingering foreclosures, pushing bank repossession numbers higher in the short term even as foreclosure starts drop to new lows,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said. “This also means the share of active foreclosures tied to bubble-era loans is shrinking, with 59 percent of all loans in foreclosure originated between 2004 and 2008. While that is still a disproportionate share of active foreclosures, it continues to decrease from 61 percent earlier this year and 75 percent two years ago.”
Bucking the national trend, there were nine states where foreclosure starts increased from a year ago, including Oklahoma (up 246 percent), Arkansas (up 180 percent), Virginia (up 39 percent), Maine (up 5 percent) and Massachusetts (up 14 percent).
There were a total of 40,329 properties repossessed by lenders (REOs) in November, up 10 percent from the previous month and up 60 percent from a year ago — the ninth consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in REOs. Through the first 11 months of 2015, there have been 410,249 completed foreclosures, up 35 percent from 303,064 REOs during the same time period in 2014.
REOs increased from a year ago in 41 states, led by Tennessee (up 608 percent), Mississippi (up 341 percent), Texas (298 percent), Nebraska (up 295 percent), New York (up 270 percent) and New Jersey (up 205 percent).
Those states that saw the most completed foreclosures for the month included Florida (6,435 REOs), Texas (3,107 REOs), California (2,567 REOs), Illinois (2,338 REOs) and Georgia (2,302 REOs).
A total of 36,409 U.S. properties were scheduled for foreclosure auction during the month, down 22 percent from the previous month and down 27 percent from a year ago.
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