New foreclosure filings by the nation’s mortgage servicers moved lower last month, as did the volume of repossessions and overall foreclosure filings.
The foreclosure process was initiated on 45,072 mortgages during August,
one percent fewer than in the prior month and the lowest level since November 2005.
In addition, foreclosure starts have declined by 19 percent when compared to the same month last year.
Historical data from RealtyTrac, which reported the figures Thursday, indicate that servicers have started the foreclosure process on approximately
394,862 loans since the beginning of this year.
In all, 109,561 U.S. properties faced some sort of foreclosure filing last month, sinking from 124,910 previously reported for July. Filings — including default notices, scheduled auctions and repossessions —Â were also down from 116,913 a year prior.
Filings were made on 15,111 Florida properties, the most of any state. California’s 10,564 followed, then New Jersey’s 6,614, Illinois’ 5,747 and New York’s 5,658. Just eight filings in North Dakota were the fewest of any state.
A foreclosure filing was made on each 1,205 housing units, improving over the one-in-1,057 rate in July and one-in-1,126 during August 2014.
The rate was
one-in-507 in Nevada — the worst in the country. After that was one-in- 534 in Maryland. In New Jersey, there was a one-in-539 rate, followed by Florida’s one-in-596 rate and one-in-863 in South Carolina.
The lowest rate was North Dakota’s
one-in-40,589.
Servicers completed the foreclosure process on 36,792 U.S. properties in August 2015, fewer than the 46,957 repossessions the previous month but more than 26,343 in the year-earlier period.
“This influx of bank-owned inventory may be good news for an inventory-challenged housing market, but buyers and investors interested in purchasing these bank-owned homes should understand they tend to be lower-value properties in areas where house values have not recovered as quickly and are more likely to have deferred maintenance issues that will need to be addressed,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist said in the report. “The average estimated market value of REO properties nationwide is now 33 percent below the average market value of non-distressed properties, and homes that were repossessed in the second quarter of this year on average had been languishing in the foreclosure process for 629 days.”
During the first eight months of this year,
293,030 home were repossessed.
Real-estate-owned filings were highest in Florida, where 6,511 homes were taken back. California had 2,827 completed foreclosures, followed by 2,053 in Texas, 1,895 in Ohio and 1,872 in Georgia. The fewest REO filings were in North Dakota: three.
