Foreclosure activity escalates in Q1

Properties receiving foreclosure filings jumped 16 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, according to a quarterly report by foreclosure data site RealtyTrac.

Filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- went to 932,234 properties, a 7 percent surge from the fourth quarter. That means 1 in every 138 housing units in the country received a foreclosure filing, the report said.

March saw the biggest monthly total since RealtyTrac's first U.S. Foreclosure Market Report in January 2005: 367,056 properties posted filings in March -- 39.4 percent of total for the first quarter.

"Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's CEO.

"One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, with REOs increasing 9 percent on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 13 percent quarterly decrease in REOs in the first quarter of 2009."

With a total of 257,944 properties repossessed by the lender during the quarter, REOs hit a record-high total, the report said, and REOs soared 35 percent compared to the same period last year.

"This subtle shift in the numbers ... may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline," Saccacio said.

At 369,491, scheduled auctions during the first quarter also hit a record high, rising 21 percent quarter-over-quarter and 12 percent from the fourth quarter.

The number of properties receiving default notices was mostly flat, rising 1 percent to 304,799 quarter-over-quarter and falling 1 percent from the previous quarter. They peaked in the third quarter of last year at more than 342,000, the report said.

More than 70 percent of the nation's first-quarter foreclosure activity was concentrated 10 states, the report said. California had the nation's highest total of properties receiving foreclosure filings: 216,263, or 23 percent of all activity. ...CONTINUED

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