RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties and real estate data, Thursday said foreclosure filings were reported on 152,500 U.S. properties in March, a decrease of 1 percent from the previous month and down 23 percent from March 2012. Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.
U.S. foreclosure starts increased 2 percent from February to March, the second straight monthly increase after three consecutive monthly decreases. There were 73,113 foreclosure starts nationwide in March, which was a decline of 28 percent from last year.
Releasing its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for March and the first quarter of 2013, the market researcher said the decrease in March helped drop first quarter foreclosure numbers to the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 442,117 U.S. properties in the first quarter, down 12 percent from the previous quarter and a decline of 23 percent from the first quarter of 2012.
Florida, Nevada and Illinois posted highest foreclosure rates in first quarter.
Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said, "Although the overall national foreclosure trend continues to head lower, late-blooming foreclosures are bolting higher in some local markets where aggressive foreclosure prevention efforts in previous years are wearing off."
More recent foreclosure prevention efforts in other states have drastically increased the average time to foreclose, which could result in a similar outbreak of delayed foreclosures down the road in those states, Blomquist added.
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