Foreclosures fall — for now

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings fell by 8% in November, making it the fourth consecutive month of improvement in the housing market. There were 306,627 filings last month, a decline that follows a 3% drop in October, 4% in September and 1% in August. “Loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the recently extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit, are keeping a lid on the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market-foreclosures and home value depreciation,” RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio said in a prepared statement. However, while there are signs of improvement, the industry has yet to turn around: Foreclosure filings were still 18% above November 2008′s levels.

RealtyTrac spokesman Rick Sharga isn’t convinced the decline is a natural outgrowth of improved market conditions. “I really don’t believe we’re looking at a trend that suggests the problem is going away,” he said. “Much of the drop was artificially induced.” RealtyTrac reported 76,701 homes were repossessed during the month, only a tad down from the 77,077 lost in October. For the year, there have been a total of 777,630 properties taken back by banks. The “sand states” – Nevada, Florida, California and Arizona-continued to amass the largest numbers of foreclosure filings with Nevada the hardest hit state of all. One of every 119 households had a filing in November, nearly four times the national average of one for every 417. Florida had one for every 165 households, California one for every 180, and Arizona one for every 186

NorthWest Real Estate