LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lenders repossessed fewer U.S. homes
in January, bringing the number of completed foreclosures down to the
lowest level in more than six years.
Even so, many states posted
sharp increases in the number of homes entering the foreclosure process
for the first time, a trend that raises the likelihood that those states
will see a surge in foreclosed homes later this year.
Banks took
back 30,226 homes last month, a drop of 4 percent from December,
foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.
Completed foreclosures were down 40 percent from January last year to the lowest level since July 2007,
the firm said.
A dozen states posted annual increases in foreclosures, including New York, Oklahoma, Connecticut and New
Jersey.
While
foreclosures remain elevated in many populous states, they have been
steadily on the wane since the U.S. housing market and economy began to
rebound after years of decline.
The U.S. housing market has
emerged from a deep slump, aided by rising home prices, steady job
growth and fewer troubled loans dating back to the housing-bubble days.
Meanwhile, more homeowners are keeping up with their mortgage payments.
That’s led to fewer homes entering the foreclosure pipeline on a national level.
In
some states, however, there is a backlog of homes with mortgages gone
unpaid. Typically these are states like New York and Florida, where the
courts play a role in the foreclosure process. In other states, like
California and Nevada, laws aimed at stalling foreclosures have extended
the time it takes for the process to play out.
As a result, some
of those homes with mortgages gone unpaid are only now entering the
foreclosure process or being scheduled for auction.
"We’re going
to have this year some states that are still seeing the last surges in
foreclosure activity because of continued delays in the process," said
Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac. "Not even an improving
economy may help a lot of these."
Last month, 22 states posted
annual increases in homes that got started on the path to foreclosure.
Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey and California had the biggest
increases. In California, foreclosure starts rose on an annual basis for
the first time in more than a year.
All told, banks initiated
foreclosure actions against 57,259 U.S. homes last month, a 10 percent
jump from December, RealtyTrac said. Foreclosure starts typically pick
up in January after slowing in December. They were down 12 percent from a
year ago.
Many of these homes are likely to begin making their way through the foreclosure process this year,
Blomquist said.
That
said, Blomquist said he expects that completed foreclosures will
decline nationally this year from 2013, when they totaled 462,970.
Foreclosures peaked in 2010 at 1.05 million and have been declining ever since.
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