RealtyTrac said foreclosure filings reached the lowest level in four years, as there were nearly 1.9 million default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions nationwide in 2011.
This represents a year-over-year change of 34% and is also down 33% from 2009 and 19% below the 2008 total.
“Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity,” said Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac. “The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages—particularly in states with a judicial foreclosure process.”
The Irvine, Calif.-based data provider said one in 69 properties throughout the country had at least one foreclosure filing during the year.
Meanwhile, processing timelines continued to increase through the fourth quarter as it took an average of 348 days to complete a foreclosure. This is 12 more days than the previous quarter and up from 305 days during the same time period last year.
It took over 800 days for New Jersey, Florida and New York, which led the nation with an average of 1,019 days, to complete the default foreclosure process. Texas had the shortest processing time in the fourth quarter at 90 days, four more days than the third quarter.
According to RealtyTrac, annual foreclosure activity was down in 45 states, with the highest foreclosure rates seen in Nevada, Arizona and California.
For the fifth straight year, Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate with one in 16 housing units filing for foreclosure.
Despite a 28% drop in foreclosure Activity from November to December, Arizona had the nation's second highest foreclosure rate for the third year in a row, with one in 24 properties filing some type of foreclosure.
California also experienced a substantial month-over-month drop in default notices of 38% in December, but still registered the third highest foreclosure rate for 2011. One in every 31 California properties had at least one foreclosure filing during the year.
Moore said the outlook for foreclosure activity could be different in 2012 compared to the drop in activity experienced in 2011.
“There are strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets,” Moore added. “We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010.”
