MRED Blog

Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 144,790 U.S. properties in April, a decrease of 5 percent from the previous month and down 23 percent from April 2012, according to the RealtyTrac® April 2013 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™. Total foreclosure activity also hit its lowest level since February 2007.

The report also shows one in every 905 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month. Other high-level findings from the report:

• Scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions (NFS) increased 22 percent from March to April and were up 31 percent from a year ago to the highest level since October 2010 — a 30-month high.
• Scheduled non-judicial foreclosure auctions (NTS) in April were down 7 percent from March and down 43 percent from April 2012 to the lowest level since December 2005 — an 88-month low.
• A total of 70,133 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in April, down 4 percent from the previous month and down 28 percent from a year ago.
• Lenders repossessed 34,997 U.S. properties in April, down 20 percent from March and down 32 percent from April 2012 to the lowest level since July 2007 — a 69-month low.
• As of the beginning of May, A total of 11.3 million mortgages nationwide were seriously underwater, meaning combined amount of mortgages secured by the home was at least 25 percent more than the estimated value of the home. That represented 26 percent of all outstanding mortgages, but was down nearly 1.5 million from the 12.8 million seriously underwater mortgages in May 2012.
• Illinois foreclosure activity decreased 12 percent monthly and was down 17 percent annually, but the state still posted the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate: one in every 501 housing units with a foreclosure filing.
• Chicago was number 10 on the list of metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates (one in every 389 housing units).

Article via Chicago Real Estate Forum