Foreclosure-related filings fell 3 percent from May to June and were down 7 percent from a year ago, data aggregator RealtyTrac reported Thursday, with 313,841 homes subjected to a default notice, auction sale notice, or bank repossession.
During the second quarter, the pace at which homes entered the foreclosure process slowed as lenders delayed foreclosure proceedings and implemented more aggressive short sale and loan modification initiatives, said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
But the pace of properties completing the foreclosure process through bank repossession quickened as lenders cleared out a backlog of distressed inventory delayed by foreclosure prevention efforts in 2009, Saccacio said in a press release.
Foreclosure filings were down 4 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the second, with 895,521 homes receiving some kind of filing — about the same number during the same period a year ago. Among those filings, bank repossessions (REOs)were up 5 percent from the previous quarter and 38 percent from a year ago, to 269,962 — a new quarterly high for the report.
Data collected from loan servicers by Lender Processing Services showed a similar trend in May, with inventories of bank-owned properties growing for the fifth month in a row, to 1.13 million.
According to RealtyTrac, the 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates during June were:
1. Nevada (one filing per 88 homes)
2. Florida (one per 171 homes)
3. Arizona (one per 189 homes)
4. California (one per 194 homes)
5. Utah (one per 263 homes)
6. Michigan (one per 265 homes)
7. Idaho (one per 285 homes)
8. Georgia (one per 334 homes)
9. Illinois (one per 358 homes)
10. Maryland (one per 370 homes)
Looking back a year, foreclosure-related filings were down in half of those states: Nevada (-31.6 percent), Florida (-2.5 percent), Arizona (-14.3 percent), California (-31.6 percent), and Georgia (-14.2 percent). Filings were up 3.4 percent in Utah, 25.8 percent in Michigan, 19.8 percent in Idaho, 36.5 percent in Illinois, and 103.3 percent in Maryland.
