Foreclosure filings inch up

With the robo-signing scandal resolved, lenders are moving to complete foreclosures. The foreclosure rate is highest in Florida.

By Teresa at MSN Real Estate 

 

 

Foreclosure activity inched up in May, a reminder that the real-estate crisis has not yet run its course in all cities.

The number of foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – increased 2% from April to May, led by an 11% increase in bank repossessions, RealtyTrac reported. But the number of repossessions was 29% below the level of last May.

"Foreclosure activity continued to bounce back in some markets where it may have appeared the foreclosure problem had been knocked out by an aggressive combination of foreclosure prevention efforts over the past two years," Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in a news release.

He included among those Nevada, where foreclosure starts hit a 20-month high, and Maryland, where overall foreclosure activity hit a 33-month high.

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"Still, the emerging housing recovery has strengthened most local markets enough to quickly shake off a few more blows from these nagging foreclosures," he added.

Bank repossessions were up in 33 states month-over-month, led by North Carolina, up 60%;  Oregon, 59%; Wisconsin, 44%; Illinois, 44%; Colorado, 23%; and Michigan, 19%.

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The number of foreclosure starts rose 4% from April to May but remained 33% below the rate in 2012. Foreclosure starts increased month-over-month in 26 states and year-over-year in 14 states. The states reporting the biggest increases in foreclosure starts compared with May 2012 were Maryland, up 229%; Connecticut, 122%; Hawaii, 108%; Arkansas, 84%; New Jersey, 82%; Nevada, 81%; Washington, 53%; Pennsylvania, 26%; and New York, 13%.

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The report reflected that the fact that while many foreclosures have already been completed in nonjudicial foreclosure states, judicial foreclosure states are still working through a backlog of foreclosures that were held up during the robo-signing scandal.

Florida posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate in May, with one of every 302 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. That is almost three times the national average of one in 885.

The other states with the highest foreclosure rates were:

• Nevada: one in 305 housing units.
• Ohio: one in 584.
• Maryland: one in 587.
• Illinois: one in 606.
• Georgia: one in 693.
• Washington: one in 736.
• Arizona: one in 742.
• Wisconsin: one in 774.