In a recent report, released by a realty company, it was reflected that September foreclosure filings had dropped to their lowest point in over five years. In that report Realty Trac, a foreclosure listing firm, disclosed that foreclosure listings in comparison to the third quarter of this year over the second quarter were reduced by 5%. In comparison of the current year over last year, foreclosure listings were reduced by 13%. Total foreclosure listings for the third quarter were at 531,576 filings.
Driving this decrease in foreclosure listings were significant decreases in filings in the state of California. Specifically, filings in September for the state of California fell to a level of 180,427 listings. This particular figure reflects a 7% decrease over the month of August. Additionally, through the month of September, this is a 16% reduction in foreclosure listings as compared to a year earlier.
For the state of California, the recently reported decline in foreclosures for the month of September is at the lowest level since 2006 as recorded in the month of December.
The previous time that listings were at this low level of foreclosure was in the year 2007.
Additionally, other states in the union that have recorded significant foreclosure numbers showed improvements. Specifically, the state of Arizona recorded a 34% decline in foreclosure listings, Georgia reported a decline of 21% and Michigan said that foreclosure listings declined by 22%. All of these declines by these four major real estate markets were for the month of September, 2012.
Adding to the foreclosure debacle was the anticipated second wave of foreclosures. This second wave of foreclosures was to take place in the latter part of 2010. These foreclosures were delayed based on questionable foreclosure practices being implemented by various lenders. Due to a subsequent investigation of these practices, many of the foreclosures were delayed or slowly acted upon. Consequently, the second wave of foreclosures was not as traumatic as anticipated.
Additionally, legislation in some states requires a court mandate in order to foreclose on a home. Some of those states that require a court order include Florida, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. These court ordered foreclosure processes significantly slowed down when it came to light that signatures were being placed on foreclosure notices that were done in mass and not by qualified business individuals. Consequently, this disclosed action on the financial institutions part slow down the court ordering process for foreclosures.
On the other hand, those states that do not require a court order to issue a foreclosure notice also saw a decrease in foreclosure filings. 20 of those 24 states that do not require a court order reported a third-quarter decrease. The state of Nevada led these non-judicial foreclosure states at a decreased level of 71% of filings.
