A decline in new foreclosure filings was not enough to offset an increase in total filings and completed foreclosures.
Servicers of home loans initiated the foreclosure process on 45,381 U.S. residential properties during the month of July.
The last time that the number of foreclosures started by mortgage servicers was this low was in November 2005.
RealtyTrac released the data Thursday.
New filings slowed eight percent from June, while activity
has also eased compared to the same month last year, a period that saw the foreclosure process initiated on 49,624 homes.
Historical data delivered by RealtyTrac indicate that approximately 349,820 foreclosures have been initiated so far this year.
New filings during last month totaled 4,627 in California, giving it a No. 1 ranking. Florida followed with 4,284 — then 3,073 in New York, 2,716 in Texas and 2,324 in New Jersey.
With just four new filings, North Dakota had the fewest.
Including all types of filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and repossessions — 124,910 properties were hit with a foreclosure filing last month.
The total
accelerated from 117,055 in June and 109,434 in July 2014. It was the fifth consecutive month overall foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis.
In Florida, 22,069 distressed borrowers received a foreclosure notice, the most of any state during June.
Next were 11,938 in California, then Illinois’ 7,252, New Jersey’s 6,857 and New York’s 5,721.
Only 11 filings were reported for North Dakota last month, the fewest of any state.
RealtyTrac said that one foreclosure filing was made on each 1,057 U.S. housing units during July.
The foreclosure rate deteriorated from one-in-1,128 a month earlier
and one-in-1,203 a year earlier.
Florida’s one filing for each 408 housing units was the worst in the country
and worse than the Sunshine State’s one-in-486 during June.
No change from the previous month left No. 2 Maryland’s rate at one-in-513. New Jersey’s one-in-520 followed, then Nevada’s one-in-587 and Illinois’ one-in-730.
At
one filing for each 29,519 housing units, North Dakota had the most favorable rate.
Mortgage servicers took ownership of
46,957 U.S. properties last month — the most since January 2013, when 50,453 were reported. It was also far more than the 36,503 repossessions in June and 25,937 in July 2014.
“The recent rise in bank repossessions represents banks flushing out old distress rather than new distress being pushed into the pipeline,” RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist explained in the report.
Blomquist went on, “The recent surge in REOs is in fact clearing out more of the bad bubble-era loans from the so-called shadow inventory. RealtyTrac data now shows 61 percent of loans still in the foreclosure process were originated during the housing bubble years of 2004 to 2008, down from 68 percent last year and 75 percent two years ago.”
Year-to-date 2015 completed foreclosures added up to
256,238.
Florida’s 10,404 real-estate-owned filings far exceeded any other state and was well above the state’s 7,239 previously reported for the prior month.
California was a distant second with 3,061 REO filings in July, then 2,706 in Texas, 2,661 in Georgia and 2,372 in Michigan.
Just
four completed foreclosures in North Dakota were the fewest of any state.
