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SALT LAKE CITY — The number of homes in foreclosure is falling — especially in Utah.
According to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for September and the third quarter of 2012, the number of foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — for the Beehive State in September fell nearly 54 percent from the same month last year.
However, the number of default notices rose just under 1 percent from August 2012.
For the month, one in every 908 Utah households registered a foreclosure filing, compared to a U.S. rate of one in every 730 households.
A backlog of delayed foreclosures will likely build up in some states as lenders adjust to the new rules, with many of those delayed foreclosures eventually hitting down the road.
–RealityTrac VP Daren Blomquist
Florida (one in 318), California (one in 361) and Illinois (one in 376) reported the highest monthly default rates, with Utah ranked at No. 16.
On a quarterly basis, Utah foreclosures dropped more than 43 percent from the previous three-month period, and 60 percent from the same quarter last year.
The report showed one in 374 Utah households with a default filing during the period compared to a national rate of one in 248 households. The states with the highest rates during the quarter were Florida (one in 117), Arizona (one in 125) and California (one in 125). Utah was ranked at no. 19.
Nationally, the number of filings decreased 7 percent from the previous month and were down 16 percent from September 2011. Last month’s total was the lowest U.S. total since July 2007, the report said.
The report also stated that the decrease in September helped drop the third quarter foreclosure numbers to the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2007.
Foreclosure filings fell 5 percent from the second quarter and 13 percent from the third quarter of 2011 — the ninth consecutive quarter with an annual decrease in foreclosure activity. The report also showed that one in every 248 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter.
“We’ve been waiting for the other foreclosure shoe to drop since late 2010, when questionable foreclosure practices slowed activity to a crawl in many areas, but that other shoe is instead being carefully lowered to the floor and therefore making little noise in the housing market — at least at a national level,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.
“A backlog of delayed foreclosures will likely build up in some states as lenders adjust to the new rules, with many of those delayed foreclosures eventually hitting down the road.”
Contributing: Andrew Wittenberg
