Foreclosure Filings Jump in Half of U.S. States

Foreclosure-related filings inched back up in half of U.S. states at the end of 2012, RealtyTrac reports. Most of the 25 states–except for five–that saw increases are judicial states, where foreclosures must be OK’d by the courts before being approved.

The six largest annual increases in 2012 for foreclosure filings were New Jersey (up 55 percent), Florida (up 53 percent), Connecticut (up 48 percent), Indiana (up 46 percent), Illinois (up 33 percent), and New York (up 31 percent).

Many of these states faced big backlogs in foreclosure filings due to lengthy processes. For example, New York had the longest foreclosure process averaging 1,089 days, followed by New Jersey (987 days) and Florida (853 days).

The increase in foreclosure activity in several markets “should translate into more foreclosure inventory available for sale in 2013 in those markets,” says Daren Blomquist with RealtyTrac. “That is good news for buyers and investors, but could result in some short-term weakness in home prices as the often-discounted foreclosure sales weigh down overall home values” in those markets.

Foreclosure-related filings reached 1.84 million in 2012, down 3 percent from 2011 and 36 percent below the peak reached in 2010.

The states seeing the largest drops in foreclosures tended to be non-judicial foreclosure states. Foreclosure filings in 2012 were down the most in Nevada (dropped 57 percent), Utah (down 40 percent), Oregon (down 40 percent), Arizona (down 33 percent), California (down 25 percent), and Michigan (down 23 percent).

Source: “Foreclosure Filings Up in Half of U.S. States in 2012,” Inman News (Jan. 18, 2013)