Maybe we will see some movement on some of the backlog of properties that the banks have been sitting on & waiting to do something with? I don’t think that they will flood the market but will need to start moving on these properties soon.

Foreclosure filings fell to 1.1 million in 2014, the lowest annual total since 2006, prior to the financial crisis, according to RealtyTrac’s newly released Year-End 2014 Foreclosure Market Report. Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, bank repossessions, and auctions, were down 18 percent from 2013 and 61 percent from a 2010 peak of 2.9 million. They were at 717,522 in 2006.

“The U.S. foreclosure numbers in 2014 shows a foreclosure market that is close to finding a floor and stabilizing at a historically normal level,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “But a recent surge in foreclosure starts and scheduled foreclosure auctions in several states in the last few months of 2014 indicates that lenders are gearing up for a spring cleaning of deferred distress in the first half of 2015 in some local markets.”

Indeed, foreclosure starts rose in December from a year prior in 26 states, RealtyTrac reports. The states seeing the largest year-over-year rises in December were Massachusetts (up 323%); New Jersey (262%); Nevada (194%); Missouri (88%), and New York (33%).

“The December surge in foreclosure starts is not a cause for concern, as it comes from a previously existing supply of distressed properties,” says Andres Carbacho-Burgos, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics, which analyzes RealtyTrac foreclosure data. “The national pool of distressed mortgages has not increased despite the surge in foreclosure filings. The geographic location of the surge in foreclosure starts is not surprising. The list of states with increased activity in the last months of 2014 includes those with judicial foreclosure backlogs, such as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Nevada is also not a judicial state but still has a substantial pool of seriously delinquent mortgages relative to the years before the housing crisis.”

Despite the uptick in some states, foreclosure starts nationally dropped 14 percent year-over-year in 2014 and were 70 percent below their 2009 peak. Bank repossessions also fell to the lowest level since 2006.

States with the Highest Foreclosure Rates in 2014

• Florida: 2.3%
• New Jersey: 1.87%
• Maryland: 1.69%
• Illinois: 1.38%
• Nevada: 1.32%

States with the Longest Average Time to Foreclose (4th Quarter)

• Hawaii: 1,067 days
• New Jersey: 1,057 days
• Florida: 946 days
• New York: 934 days
• Illinois: 903 days

States with the Shortest Average Time to Foreclose (4th Quarter)

• Texas: 207 days
• North Carolina: 211 days
• Georgia: 220 days
• Wyoming: 230 days
• Colorado: 238 days

Source: “Year-End 2014 Foreclosure Market Report,” RealtyTrac (Jan. 15, 2015)