The Voice of Tennessee Real Estate
Good News - U.S. January foreclosures fall: RealtyTrac
U.S. home foreclosure filings in January decreased from December, an indication that an array of efforts to curb the process may be making an impact, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday.
Foreclosure activity was still 18 percent higher than a year earlier, the 37th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase. Nevertheless, the fall in foreclosure filings last month provides a glimmer of hope for the hard-hit U.S. housing market.
Home foreclosure filings in January totaled 274,399, down 10 percent from December, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate in January was one foreclosure filing for every 466 U.S. households.
"The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers - particularly the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on all foreclosure sales that was extended through the end of January along with Florida's voluntary 45-day freeze on all new foreclosure actions and scheduling of foreclosure sales that was announced at the beginning of December," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
January foreclosure activity showed a sharp improvement versus the previous month. In December, foreclosure filings were up 17 percent from the previous month and up nearly 41 percent from December 2007.
Foreclosures have largely been result of an increasing number of homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.
"January REOs, which represent completed foreclosure sales to the foreclosing lender, were down 15 percent nationwide from the previous month," Saccacio said.
"And in Florida overall foreclosure activity was down 20 percent from the previous month," he said.
Real Estate Owned, or REO, are properties that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank. But fewer foreclosures help assuage one of the housing market's biggest banes, which is a huge supply of unsold homes.
"Any inventory off the market at this point is a good thing, but the problem is that many homes that have been taken back by banks have not yet been included in the data," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, said on Wednesday.
Foreclosure activity was still 18 percent higher than a year earlier, the 37th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase. Nevertheless, the fall in foreclosure filings last month provides a glimmer of hope for the hard-hit U.S. housing market.
Home foreclosure filings in January totaled 274,399, down 10 percent from December, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate in January was one foreclosure filing for every 466 U.S. households.
"The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers - particularly the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on all foreclosure sales that was extended through the end of January along with Florida's voluntary 45-day freeze on all new foreclosure actions and scheduling of foreclosure sales that was announced at the beginning of December," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.
January foreclosure activity showed a sharp improvement versus the previous month. In December, foreclosure filings were up 17 percent from the previous month and up nearly 41 percent from December 2007.
Foreclosures have largely been result of an increasing number of homeowners struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.
"January REOs, which represent completed foreclosure sales to the foreclosing lender, were down 15 percent nationwide from the previous month," Saccacio said.
"And in Florida overall foreclosure activity was down 20 percent from the previous month," he said.
Real Estate Owned, or REO, are properties that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank. But fewer foreclosures help assuage one of the housing market's biggest banes, which is a huge supply of unsold homes.
"Any inventory off the market at this point is a good thing, but the problem is that many homes that have been taken back by banks have not yet been included in the data," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac, said on Wednesday.
Add a Comment
About
TN Real Net Info
Loading feed
Badge
Career Institute
© 2009 Created by Jim Gibbs on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
You need to be a member of Tennessee Real Estate Network to add comments!
Join this Ning Network