Foreclosures edged up in July from June's 78-month low, but still remain well down on a year ago
Foreclosure filings jumped to 130,888 in July, a 2% increase from June’s 78-month low, but still down 32% from 12 months ago.
According to a report released today by housing data firm RealtyTrac, there was a foreclosure filing on one in every 1,001 U.S. housing units in July, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. The monthly increase was driven by a 6% month-over-month jump in foreclosure starts and a 4% jump in bank repossessions, according to RealtyTrac – although both metrics are still down from a year ago.
Ten out of the country’s 20 largest metropolitan areas posted foreclosure increases in July, and five posted increases from a year ago. Baltimore topped that list, with foreclosures up 182% from July 2012. Rounding out the list were Miami (up 58%), New York (up 42%), Philadelphia (up 11%) and Washington, D.C. (up 5%).
“While foreclosures are continuing to boil over in a select group of markets where state legislation and court rulings kept a lid on foreclosure activity during the worst of the housing crisis, the foreclosure boil-over markets are becoming fewer and farther between as lenders have caught up with the backlog of delayed foreclosures in some of the states with the more lengthy judicial foreclosure process,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. “For example, Illinois foreclosure activity has now decreased on a year-over-year basis for eight consecutive months following 11 straight months of annual increases, and Ohio has seen three consecutive months with annual decreases following eight straight months with annual increases.”
Florida had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the third consecutive month, posting one in every 328 houses with a foreclosure filing during July – more than three times the national average, according to RealtyTrac.
