A new trend in foreclosure filing activity began in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac's foreclosure market report.
After three straight quarters in which foreclosure activity throughout the country was down due to the robo-signing scandal, foreclosure filings inched up quarter-to-quarter.
There were 610,337 foreclosure filings (default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions) in the third quarter, an increase of less than 1% from the second quarter.
However, foreclosure filings of this type are still down year-over-year by roughly one-third.
The increase from the previous quarter was marginal but it still could be an indicator the temporary downward trend is about to slowly change direction and ramp back up, said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, in the report.
"While there are signs that the logjam might be breaking up a little bit in some of the states that process judicial foreclosures (like Florida), overall activity continues to be lower than one might anticipate," said former RealtyTrac executive Rick Sharga, now executive vice president at Carrington Mortgage Holdings.
