“The sky isn’t falling and the bottom of the housing market is in sight,” says Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com.
The company bases its analysis on the number of formal notices filed against a property during the foreclosure process. That can include notice of default, notice of foreclosure auction, and trustee’s deeds/REOs (real estate owned by lender through foreclosure)
In the first quarter, 2.8 of every 1,000 households ended up back in lenders hands, up from 2.7 in the fourth quarter 2007 (213,927 1st quarter filings vs. 197,736 in 4th quarter 2007), according to Foreclosures.com.
Quarter over quarter, 17 states actually had fewer REO filings in April, the company says.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is that still 3.8 of every 1,000 households nationwide (288,497 REO filings) have been lost to foreclosure so far this year,” says Ms. McGee. “Another 696,925 pre-foreclosure filings -- 9.4 of every 1,000 households — have been recorded year-to-date with 179,046 filings in April.”
States with the most REO filings by household through April include: Mississippi (17.2 for every 1,000 households; 885 filings), Arizona (12.6 per 1,000; 23,841 filings), Nevada (11.3 per 1,000; 8,233 filings), Colorado (7.5 per 1,000; 11,721 filings), and Michigan (6.7 per 1,000; 20,069 filings).
States with the highest number of REO filings 2008 through April: California, 70,863 filings (6.2 per 1,000 households); Florida, 24,764 (4 per 1,000); Arizona, 23,841 (12.6 per 1,000); Texas, 22,521 (3.8 per 1,000), and Michigan, 20,069 (6.7 per 1,000). Among these top five, quarter over quarter the number of filings dropped in Texas (17,042 1st quarter ’08 vs. 19,573 4th quarter ’07) and in Michigan (14,749 vs. 16,986).
States with the most pre-foreclosure filings by household YTD include: Nevada, 31.5 per 1,000 households (23,264 filings); Arizona, 28.7 per 1,000 (54,059 filings); Florida, 25.6 per 1,000 (162,316 filings, leading the nation in filings); California, 13.9 per 1,000 (160,044 filings), and New Jersey, 9.6 per 1,000 (28,825 filings). (All these states are among the top 10 in numbers of filings, with March to April numbers down in Nevada and California— down 24.68 percent and 17.58 percent respectively.)