Foreclosure starts were up 6 percent nationwide from June to July, with 26 states seeing an increase in the number of homes entering the foreclosure process, RealtyTrac reports.
Lenders continue to catch up on a backlog of delinquencies — the six states with the highest foreclosure rates (Florida, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, New Mexico and Illinois) are all “judicial foreclosure” states where courts handle the foreclosure process, and many proceedings were put on hold or delayed by the robo-signing controversy.
Nine of the nation’s 10 highest metro foreclosure rates were in Florida — Jacksonville; Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach; Port St. Lucie; Ocala; Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville; Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; Orlando-Kissimmee; Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent; and Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice.
All in all, 130,888 U.S. homes were subjected to some kind of foreclosure-related filing, including default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, down 64 percent from a March 2010 peak but 54 percent above the historical average, RealtyTrac said. Foreclosure activity levels have already returned to historical levels or dropped below them in a dozen states including Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Indiana and Michigan. Source: realtytrac.com.