Foreclosure Activity Decreases in April

RealtyTrac's latest U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for April 2014, revealed foreclosure filings were down 1 percent from March, totaling approximately 115,000. April's figure reflects a year-over-year decrease of 20 percent.

The report found one in every 1,137 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

Although April saw a decrease in overall foreclosure activity for the month, bank repossessions increased 4 percent from March. REO properties, which totaled roughly 30,000 in April, are still down 14 percent from a year ago.

"The rise in bank repossessions in many states is a sign that those markets are working through the final remnants of foreclosures left over from the recent housing crisis," said Daren Blomquist, VP at RealtyTrac. "Many of these bank-owned homes are bottom-of-the-barrel properties in terms of location or condition, but they will provide some much-wanted inventory of homes for sale in some markets in the coming months. Investors and other buyers willing to do more extensive rehab will likely be best-suited for these incoming REOs."

Foreclosure auctions scheduled in April also fell, down 3 percent from the previous month and down 21 percent from a year ago. Foreclosure auctions have decreased annually for 41 consecutive months.

New foreclosure starts declined nationally, but are up from a year ago in 16 states. Nationally, a total of 54,513 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process, down 2 percent from the previous month and down 22 percent from April 2013.

States with the top foreclosure rates include Florida, Maryland, Delaware, Indiana, and New Jersey. Florida accounts for 11 of the top 20 metros in foreclosure rates.

Bank repossessions increased from the previous month in 26 states and were up from a year ago in 16 states, including New York (142 percent), Oregon (91 percent), New Jersey (58 percent), Illinois (55 percent), Indiana (52 percent).