LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In another indicator of an improving economy, new data released this month show that foreclosures are continuing to edge down in Lake County, California and across the nation.
Irvine-based RealtyTrac issued its midyear foreclosure report, which showed that there were 613,874 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – in the first half of 2014, which the company said is a 19-percent decrease from the previous six months and down 23 percent from the first half of 2013.
One of the report's key findings: June had 107,194 foreclosures, down 2 percent from the previous month and down 16 percent from a year ago. That's the lowest level since July 2006, before the housing price bubble burst.
“Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone, dropping to levels not seen since before the housing price bubble burst in August 2006,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “Over the next six to nine months nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistent historically normal levels.
Blomquist said that there are still “concerning trends” in some states and local markets that indicate those areas are still facing impacts from the lingering foreclosure problem.
However, he added that foreclosures “are no longer a widespread contagion threatening to derail the housing market’s return to full health.”
In Lake County, the high foreclosure activity of the last several years has given way to lower numbers with fewer spikes.
Going back to July 2006, Lake County had an eight-year low of three foreclosure actions in December 2006, and a peak of 386 in April 2009, according to data provided to Lake County News by RealtyTrac.
Last month, foreclosures in Lake County numbered 75, down from 136 the previous June and an improvement compared to this year's peak of 120 in March.
The lowest foreclosure numbers in Lake County since the housing bubble burst were recorded in January 2013, when 43 foreclosure actions were reported, according to the statistics.
Lake County's numbers continue to slowly trend downward, but are still averaging more than three times the foreclosures reported monthly in 2006, the data showed.
Regarding foreclosures across California, RealtyTrac's report showed that bank repossessions were up by 18 percent over the previous June. Eleven other states also showed an increase in the year-over comparison for bank repossessions.
At the same time, California was among 17 states where the average time to foreclose decreased from a year ago. Among that group, Minnesota was down by 20 percent; Texas and Maryland both declined by 17 percent; Georgia, 11 percent; New York, 10 percent; and California, 7 percent.
RealtyTrac reported that nine states recorded overall foreclosure activity increases in the first half of 2014 compared to a year ago, including New Jersey, up 54 percent; Maryland, 18 percent; Iowa, 10 percent; Massachusetts, 4 percent; and Connecticut, 4 percent.
States with the highest foreclosure rates in the first half of 2014 were Florida, with one in 74 housing units with a foreclosure filing; Maryland, one in 107; Illinois, one in 123; New Jersey, one in 134; and Nevada, one in 138, RealtyTrac's report showed.
RealtyTrac also reported that the foreclosure process has continued to lengthen nationwide. Those properties foreclosed on in the second quarter of this year were in the process an average of 577 days, up 10 percent from 526 days in the second quarter of 2013.
More details about nationwide foreclosure statistics and trends are available at http://www.realtytrac.com/statsandtrends/foreclosuretrends/ .
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