RealtyTrac, a leading source for comprehensive housing data, released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for January 2015, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 119,888 U.S. properties in January, an increase of 5 percent from the previous month, but still down 4 percent from a year ago.
The 5 percent monthly increase was driven primarily by a 55 percent monthly jump in bank repossessions (REOs) to a 15-month high. A total of 37,292 U.S. properties were repossessed by lenders in January, up 23 percent from a year ago to the highest monthly total since October 2013.
“The year-over-year increase in REOs in January was the first annual increase nationwide following 25 consecutive months of declines, getting the foreclosure spring cleaning we anticipated in our last foreclosure report off to a quick start in 2015,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said. “Meanwhile, the number of future foreclosure auctions scheduled in January continued to increase in many states, foreshadowing more foreclosure spring cleaning to come in the next several months in those states.”
21 states post annual increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions
Twenty-one states posted a year-over-year increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions in January, including Massachusetts (up 268 percent), New Jersey (up 125 percent), North Carolina (up 111 percent), New York (up 79 percent to a 55-month high), Missouri (up 74 percent to a 29-month high), California (up 43 percent to a 22-month high), Arizona (up 37 percent to a 20-month high), Oregon (up 29 percent) and Washington (up 13 percent).
“There has been a slow but persistent increase in new foreclosure filings in the seven front-range counties in Colorado,” said Greg Hagan, owner/broker at RE/MAX Alliance, covering the Denver market, where scheduled foreclosure auctions in January jumped 166 percent from December and were up 14 percent from a year ago. “It appears that a number of these new filings are in fact re-filings with new law firms who took over the business after the bad-actor law firms were eliminated. Many of these new filings have been in foreclosure limbo for more than a year and are now coming to sale in 2015. There does appear to be upcoming opportunities for short sales and REO business despite our strong local market where inventory is in short supply.”
“It’s important to note that in most of these states, foreclosure auctions and REOs are coming off somewhat artificially low levels last year and are still far below the highs reached during the worst of the foreclosure crisis back 2009 and 2010,” Blomquist said.
A total of 51,782 U.S. properties in January were scheduled for a future foreclosure auction, up 8 percent from the previous month but still down 7 percent from a year ago and down 67 percent from the peak of 158,105 in March 2010. U.S. REOs in January were down 63 percent from a peak of 102,134 in September 2010.
27 states post year-over-year increase in bank repossessions
Twenty-seven states posted annual increases in REOs in January, including Ohio (up 197 percent), New Jersey (up 116 percent to a 51-month high), Maryland (up 100 percent), Washington (up 75 percent to a 39-month high), Arizona (up 61 percent to a 20-month high), California (up 58 percent to a 24-month high), Pennsylvania (up 44 percent to a 42-month high), Michigan (up 39 percent to a 16-month high), North Carolina (up 38 percent to a 15-month high), Texas (up 24 percent to a 16-month high), New York (up 24 percent to a 55-month high), and Florida (up 17 percent).
Foreclosure starts decrease from 17-month high in December
A total of 48,838 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in January, down 18 percent from a 17-month high in December and down 15 percent from a year ago following two consecutive months with year-over-year increases in foreclosure starts.
There were still 19 states where foreclosure starts — which in some states are the scheduled foreclosure auctions — increased from a year ago, including Nevada (up 255 percent), Indiana (45 percent) and Massachusetts (up 14 percent).