It appears that many lenders would rather do almost anything than foreclose on a property these days. RealtyTrac’s Midyear report indicates that foreclosure filings reached their lowest point since the fourth quarter of 2007.
The total six month filing total was 1,170,402, a 29% reduction compared to the first half of 2010. The total filings for the month of June were 222,740, a 4% increase over the totals for May, but a 29% drop from June 2010. Foreclosure activity was down for the ninth straight month.
Realtytrac CEO, James Saccacio, warns that the decline in foreclosure activity is not necessarily a reason to rejoice. Over 1 million foreclosure actions have simply backed up because of filing and other issues and are going to bring greater pressure on the judicial system in 2012.
Nevada continues to have the highest foreclosure rate in the country at 5% of its housing units. In raw numbers, California takes the lead with 263,500 filings. The second place in foreclosure rate goes to Arizona at 2.82%. Other states in the top 10 in foreclosure rate are: California (1.96%), Utah (1.65%), Georgia (1.50%), Idaho (1.49%), Michigan (1.34%), Florida (1.28%), Colorado (1.19%), and Illinois (1.15%).
In number of filings second place goes to Florida with 113,641, third place to Arizona with 77,525. The top 10 are rounded out with: Michigan (61,005), Georgia (60,870), Illinois (60,636), Texas (55,442), Nevada (53,217), Ohio (44,419), and Colorado (25,744).
On average it takes 318 for a U.S. property to go through the full foreclosure process, up from 298 days in the first quarter of 2011. New York has the longest days for settling a foreclosure at 966. Texas takes the least amount of time at 92 days. REOs from foreclosure to sale take an average of 213 days, which is down from an average of 228 days in the first quarter of the year.