During June, foreclosure filings rose, completed foreclosures climbed and the foreclosure rate deteriorated. From the point that the first filing is made on a property to the date that the property is repossessed and sold, U.S. servicers are spending nearly 500 days on the foreclosure process.
RealtyTrac reported that 222,740 U.S. properties were hit with a foreclosure filing last month, inching up from 214,927 during May. But volume was down substantially from 313,841 properties in June 2010 — though RealtyTrac attributed the improvement to a stalled foreclosure process.
Filings — including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions– totaled 1,170,402 during the first six months of 2011.
RealtyTrac said its findings were based on data collected from more than 2,200 U.S. counties.
On a quarterly basis, the second quarter’s 608,235 foreclosures were “the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2007.”
RealtyTrac noted that foreclosures took 318 days to complete in the latest three-month period, lengthening from 277 days during the second-quarter 2010. New York’s 966 days was the longest of any state.
It was California, again, that saw the most monthly filings. Filings hit 54,087 during June in the Golden State, climbing from 51,906 a month earlier.
Foreclosures climbed in No. 2 Florida to 23,769 in June from the previous month’s 19,192.
After that was Arizona’s 13,447, Michigan’s 12,919 and Illinois’ 11,014. At the other end of the spectrum was Vermont, where filings were made on just eight properties.
On a national basis, one foreclosure was filed on every 584 housing units, deteriorating from May when a filing was made on each 605 homes. But the rate was better than one-in-411 a year earlier.
On a year-to-date basis, the foreclosure rate was one filing for each 111 housing units.
The foreclosure rate was worst in the state of Nevada, where one-in-114 housing units were hit with a filing during June. Arizona followed with a one-in-205 rate, then California’s one-in-248, Utah’s one-in-294 and Idaho’s one-in-344.
The best foreclosure rate could be found in Vermont:Â one-in-39,281.
Nationally, 68,851 mortgages moved into real-estate-owned status in June. REOÂ filings inched up from 66,879 a month earlier but tumbled from 85,525 foreclosures completed a year earlier.
From Jan. 1 through June 30, completed foreclosures totaled 420,308.
The report indicated that once mortgages moved into REO status, it took an average of 178 days to sell during the second quarter.
California repossessions climbed to 12,286 from May’s 10,303. More REOs were filed in California than any other state.
At 6,330 completed foreclosures, Arizona came in second. After that was Florida’s 4,519, Georgia’s 4,300 and Michigan’s 4,184.
With only eight REO filings, Vermont had the fewest repossessions last month.
