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Foreclosure Filings Hit Six-and-a-Half-Year Low in June

Foreclosure activity was sluggish in June, dipping 14 percent from May and falling 35 percent from a year ago, according to ""RealtyTrac's"":http://www.realtytrac.com/ most recent foreclosure ""report"":http://www.realtytrac.com/content/foreclosure-market-report/midyear-2013-us-foreclosure-market-report-7794.

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With 127,790 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in June, RealtyTrac also revealed foreclosure activity is down to the lowest level since December 2006.

Meanwhile, the year-to-date total for foreclosure filings numbered 801,359, down 23 percent from the same period a year ago.

Foreclosure starts also experienced a dramatic fall, decreasing 45 percent year-over-year in June to the lowest level since December 2005.

At their current pace, foreclosure starts are on track to exceed 800,000 this year, but the total would still fall short of the 1.1 million starts in 2012, RealtyTrac noted.

While foreclosure activity dropped, foreclosure auctions in judicial states jumped 34 percent in June compared to a year ago.

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Judicial states that led the increase included New Jersey (+103 percent), Florida (+100 percent), Maryland (+94 percent), New York (+66 percent), and Illinois (+65 percent).

""The increases in judicial foreclosure auctions demonstrate that these delayed foreclosure cases are now being moved more quickly through to foreclosure completion,"" said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. ""Given the rising home prices in most of these markets, it is an opportune time for lenders to dispose of these distressed properties, either at the foreclosure auction to a third-party buyer, or by repossessing the property at the auction and subsequently selling it as a bank-owned home.""

Even though judicial states are seeing a pick-up in activity, overall foreclosure timelines increased in the second quarter, averaging 526 days compared to 477 days in the first quarter.

New York and New Jersey took the longest to complete a foreclosure, with the average number of days at 1,033 for each state.

Florida also stood out for its lengthy foreclosure timeline of 907 days. Not surprisingly, the state also ended the first half of the year with the highest foreclosure rate.

In Florida, 1.74 percent of housing units received a foreclosure filing over the last six months of this year--nearly three times the national average of 0.61 percent.

Nevada followed behind with a foreclosure rate of 1.40 percent. Other states in the top five for their foreclosure rates were Illinois (1.20 percent), Ohio (0.96 percent), and Georgia (0.86 percent).

About Author: Esther Cho

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