Led by the Golden State, the nation saw fewer foreclosures last month, while Florida led an improvement in the foreclosure rate. But there was no improvement in repossessions. Vermont had the most favorable foreclosure performance of any state in every category.
Foreclosures were filed on 333,837 U.S. properties during April, improving from the previous month’s 367,056, data released today by RealtyTrac indicated. The foreclosure listing service previously reported that 342,038 properties faced foreclosures in April 2009; however, today’s report indicated that “April was the first month in the history of our report with an annual decrease in U.S. foreclosure activity,” suggesting last year’s numbers have been revised down.
Filings included default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. RealtyTrac said its database includes records from more than 2,200 U.S. counties that make up over 90 percent of the U.S. population.
From Jan. 1 to April 30, around 1,266,071 U.S. foreclosures were filed.
While the national pace eased around 9 percent, foreclosures in California — the worst of any state — fell one-quarter from March to 69,725. No. 2 Florida saw 48,384 April filings — while 19,173 were filed in Michigan, 13,133 were filed in Texas and Arizona saw 16,088 filings.
In Vermont, just 12 properties were hit with a foreclosure — fewer than any other state.
One foreclosure was filed on every 387 U.S. housing units last month, improving from March’s one-in-352. The foreclosure rate was also better than April 2009’s one-in-374.
Nevada’s foreclosure rate improved to one-in-69 from one-in-76 during March — though no other state had an April rate as bad.
Arizona’s one-in-169 followed, then Florida’s one-in-182 — which was a big improvement from one filing for each 149 households the previous month. California had a one-in-192 rate, and Utah’s rate was one-in-221.
In Vermont, just one filing was made for every 26,051 housing units — better than any of its 49 counterparts.
Moving on to real-estate-owned filings, the United States saw 92,432 repossessions in April, worsening from 91,568 a month earlier and up by nearly half from 63,903 a year earlier.
Year-to-date 2010 through April , REO filings totaled 350,376.
With 16,932 REOs, California had the most of any state, followed by Florida’s 9,259 and Michigan’s 6,252. No. 4 Texas had 5,556 repossessions, and No. 5 Arizona saw 5,452 homes complete the foreclosure process.
Vermont’s 11 REOs were the fewest.
