RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Year-End 2011 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows a total of 2,698,967 foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- were reported on 1,887,777 U.S. properties in 2011, a decrease of 34% in total properties from 2010. Foreclosure activity in 2011 was 33% below the 2009 total and 19% below the 2008 total.
The report also shows that 1.45% of U.S. housing units (one in 69) had at least one foreclosure filing during the year, down from 2.23% in 2010, 2.21% in 2009, and 1.84% in 2008. Total U.S. foreclosure activity and the U.S. foreclosure rate in 2011 were both at their lowest annual level since 2007.
"Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity for the year," said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages -- particularly in states with a judicial foreclosure process. There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets. We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010."
Foreclosure filings were reported on 205,024 U.S. properties in December, a decrease of 9% from the previous month and down 20% from December 2010. December's total was the lowest monthly total since November 2007 -- a 49-month low.
More than 6% of Nevada housing units (one in 16) had at least one foreclosure filing in 2011, giving it the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the fifth consecutive year despite a 31% decrease in foreclosure activity from 2010. Nevada foreclosure activity dropped 35% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, driven primarily by a 70% decrease in default notices -- the result of a new law (AB 284) that took effect in October requiring lenders to file an additional affidavit before starting the foreclosure process. The new law also increases the penalties for the use of fraudulent documents in foreclosure.
U.S. properties foreclosed in the fourth quarter took an average of 348 days to complete the foreclosure process, up from 336 days in the third quarter and up from 305 days in the fourth quarter of 2010. The length of the average foreclosure process has increased 24% from 281 days in the third quarter of 2010, when lenders began to re-evaluate foreclosure procedures in earnest as the result of the so-called robo-signing controversy.
