by Calculated Risk on 4/14/2011 09:57:00 AM

From RealtyTrac: Foreclosure Activity Decreases 15 Percent in Q1 2011

RealtyTrac® ... today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for the first quarter of 2011, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 681,153 U.S. properties in the first quarter, a 15 percent decrease from the previous quarter and a 27 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2010.
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Foreclosure filings were reported on 239,795 U.S. properties in March, a 7 percent increase from the previous month but still down 35 percent from March 2010, when 367,056 homeowners received a foreclosure notice – the highest monthly total in the history of the RealtyTrac monthly report since its inception in January of 2005.

“The nation’s housing market continued to languish in the first quarter, even as foreclosure activity fell to a three-year low,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Weak demand, declining home prices and the lack of credit availability are weighing heavily on the market, which is still facing the dual threat of a looming shadow inventory of distressed properties and the probability that foreclosure activity will begin to increase again as lenders and servicers gradually work their way through the backlog of thousands of foreclosures that have been delayed due to improperly processed paperwork.”
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A total of 73,393 properties received default notices in March, up 16 percent from February but still down 37 percent from March 2010.
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Foreclosure auctions were scheduled on 93,228 U.S. properties in March, down 4 percent from February and down 41 percent from March 2010.

The decline in default notices is similar to the decline in serious delinquencies. However repossession activity will probably increase as lenders work through the legal issues and the huge backlog of homes 90+ days delinquent or in the foreclosure process.