It’s been nearly seven years since foreclosure filings have been this slow. Also slowing was the time it takes to complete a foreclosure.
Foreclosure starts totaled 57,286 during June. Starts are the first public notice of foreclosure and include notices of default, lis pendens and trustee’s sale, depending on the state.
New foreclosure filings plummeted from 72,698 starts previously reported for a month earlier and were down 45 percent from a year prior.
From Jan. 1 through the end of last month, 409,491 foreclosure starts have been filed. Activity is on pace to reach 0.8 million for the year — potentially improving from 1.1 million in 2012.
Florida’s 9,104 foreclosure starts were more than any other state. Close behind was California’s 8,092.
Texas was a distant third with 3,073 filings, then Georgia’s 2,999 and New York’s 2,986.
Last month saw a total of 127,790 U.S. properties hit with a filing — including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.
It was the lowest monthly level of foreclosure activity since December 2006.
The total was 148,054 a month earlier 197,834 a year earlier.
Based on activity during the first six months of 2013, there were 801,359 properties that had some foreclosure filing.
In Florida, 25,228 borrowers faced a filing last month, more than every other state. Volume in the Sunshine State was lower than in May, however, when 29,606 properties had a filing.
California followed with 14,992 filings. Next was Illinois’ 10,076 foreclosures, Ohio’s 7,903 and Georgia’s 4,769.
A total of four filings in North Dakota were the fewest.
One foreclosure was filed for every 1,025 U.S. housing units last month, better than one-in-885 during May.
The U.S. foreclosure rate has significantly improved from one-in-666 in the same month last year.
The first-half 2013 foreclosure rate was one filing for each 164 housing units.
A foreclosure was filed on each 355 housing units in Florida during June, the worst rate of any state but an improvement from one-in-302 during May.
Illinois had a filing for each 525 housing units, the second-worst rate. One filing for each 647 houses landed Maryland in the No. 3 spot, followed by one-in-648 in Ohio and one-in-720 in Nevada.
With just one foreclosure filing for each 78,879 housing units, North Dakota’s rate was lowest.
The ultimate foreclosure metric — real-estate-owned filings — slowed in June. REO filings fell to 35,507 from 38,946 in May.
The year-earlier total was far greater at 54,272.
Repossessions totaled 248,538 in the first six months of this year.
The most completed foreclosures during June occurred in Florida: 6,519. Florida REO filings were lower than 7,230 in May.
Ohio’s 2,761 repossessions were No. 2, followed by Michigan’s 2,054, California’s 2,017 and Illinois’ 1,900.
North Dakota’s four REOs were the fewest last month.
It took an average of 526 days for the foreclosure process to complete for all U.S. properties during the second quarter, up from 477 days in the first quarter.
But in New Jersey and New York, the total was to 1,033 days — longer than any other state but slightly faster than in the first quarter.
Florida took 907 days, then 824 days in Hawaii and 817 days in Illinois.
“Halfway through 2013 it is becoming increasingly evident that while foreclosures are no longer a problem nationally they continue to be a thorn in the side of several state and local markets, particularly where a backlog of delayed distress has built up thanks to a lengthy foreclosure process,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said in the report. “The increases in judicial foreclosure auctions demonstrate that these delayed foreclosure cases are now being moved more quickly through to foreclosure completion.”
