Foreclosure Filings Down 3%: RealtyTrac

Foreclosure activity dropped 3 percent from April to May, according to new data from ""RealtyTrac"":http://www.realtytrac.com. It's the second month in a row that the company has recorded a decline.
[IMAGE] In May, a total of 322,920 properties received a foreclosure filing. That figure equates to one in every 400 U.S. housing units, and is less than 1 percent higher than the number of filings tracked a year ago.

""The numbers in May continued and confirmed the trends we noticed in April: overall foreclosure activity leveling off while lenders work through the backlog of distressed properties that have built up over the past 20 months,"" said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

Saccacio explained that defaults and scheduled auctions combined increased by 28 percent from 2007 to 2008 and another 32 percent from 2008 to 2009, creating a build-up of delayed bank repossessions.

""Lenders appear to be ramping up the pace of completing those forestalled foreclosures even while the inflow of delinquencies into the foreclosure process has slowed,"" he said.

A total of 96,462 U.S. properties received default notices in May, a 7 percent decrease from the previous month and a 22 percent decrease from May 2009. It was the fewest default notices since November 2008, RealtyTrac said.

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Foreclosure auctions were scheduled for the first time on a total of 132,681 homes, a decrease of 4 percent from the previous month and down less than 1 percent from May 2009.

However, REOs, hit a record monthly high for the second month in a row in May, with a total of 93,777 U.S. properties repossessed by lenders during the month - an increase of 1 percent from the previous month and an increase of 44 percent from May 2009. RealtyTrac says all 50 states posted year-over-year growth in REO activity.

The same usual suspects topped RealtyTrac’s list of states with the highest foreclosure rates. Despite a nearly 12 percent decrease in foreclosure activity for the month and a 16 percent drop compared to a year ago, Nevada once again took the number one spot on that list, with one in every 79 homes receiving a foreclosure filing during May.

Arizona foreclosure activity increased less than 1 percent from the previous month and was down nearly 5 percent from May 2009, but the state posted the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate for the second month in a row. One in every 169 Arizona properties received a foreclosure notice last month.

One in every 174 Florida properties received a foreclosure notice in May, the nation’s third highest foreclosure rate, and one in every 186 California properties received a foreclosure notice in May, the fourth highest state foreclosure rate. California alone accounted for more than 22 percent of the nation’s foreclosure total last month.

Foreclosure activity in Michigan increased nearly 6 percent from the previous month and was up 46 percent from May 2009, helping the state post the nation’s fifth highest foreclosure rate â€" one in every 223 Michigan properties received a foreclosure filing in May.

Michigan claimed the nation’s fifth highest foreclosure rate. Rounding out the top 10 were Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Utah, and Maryland.