Western States See Mixed Foreclosure Numbers for July

ForeclosureRadar's ""Foreclosure Report for July 2012"":http://www.foreclosureradar.com/foreclosure-report/foreclosure-report-july-2012 showed mixed month-over-month trends from state to state but revealed an overall year-over-year decline in foreclosure filings.

[IMAGE]

The report, released Monday, covers Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Of the five states, only Arizona and Oregon posted decreases in foreclosure filings from June, while California and Nevada reported relatively small increases.

Washington showed the largest increase in filings, posting a 22.4 percent rise from June.

Oregon reported a 64.2 percent decrease in foreclosure filings, likely due to trends in the state that may indicate a lean toward a judicial foreclosure process. The state saw a new law (SB 1552) that gives homeowners at risk of default the right to request foreclosure mediation. In addition, a ruling from the Oregon Court of Appeals forced some lenders to proceed judicially with foreclosures, contributing to a drop in filings.

At this time, it's not clear if this is just a temporary decline or a shift toward a judicial foreclosure process in the state.

Foreclosure sales were also mixed across the states. Washington reported the largest decrease in sales, posting a 27.5 percent drop from June. Nevada's sales also fell 4.6 percent.

Of the other states, Arizona saw the largest increase in foreclosure sales with 27.5 percent. Sales increased slightly in California (10.5 percent) and stayed fairly flat in Oregon (0.4 percent).

Time to foreclose either fell or stayed flat in all five states, with California reporting the largest decrease (10.4 percent) and Washington reporting the largest increase (only 2.0 percent).

While these numbers were too varied to be indicative of a larger trend within the region, ForeclosureRadar founder and CEO Sean O'Toole said long-term trends-which show decreases in foreclosure activity in every state except Washington-are more important.

""While we are as curious as anyone to see the direction foreclosures are headed each month, it is important to keep things in context,"" O'Toole said. ""It is not unusual to see the number of Foreclosure Filings or Foreclosure Sales go up or down 10 percent or more each month. Whether it's due to the length of the month, holidays, or internal delays at a lender, trustee, or posting company, it is completely normal to see fluctuations. What's important is the bigger picture.""