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IRVINE, CA-Despite a 58% month-over-month drop in foreclosure activity in June and an 84% drop in foreclosure starts from the previous month, Nevada still posted the nation's second-highest foreclosure rate in the first half of 2013, according to locally based foreclosure data source RealtyTrac. The state had one in every 71 housing units with a foreclosure filing during the first half of 2013, up 12% from the previous six months but down 21% from a year ago.

Part of the reason for the changes is that new legislation, AB 300, went into effect last month. The law changes the foreclosure process in Nevada.

“The drop in foreclosure starts in Reno is not surprising since NODs were at a 20-month high last month,” said Craig King, COO at Chase International brokerage, which covers the Reno and Lake Tahoe markets, in a prepared statement. “New laws were passed in this year's session of the Nevada legislature affecting homeowner's rights and distressed property. Lenders, realtors and attorneys are working to sort out these new laws, which could take some time.”

King added that there will be a long tail on the distressed-property market for several more years since there are a huge number of Nevada mortgages still underwater, “but the NOD and scheduled-foreclosure auction numbers have come down very substantially and will stay down from the highs. The distressed market is a fraction of what it was at the peak, and the majority of agents have shifted their focus to the equity market.”

As GlobeSt.com reported earlier today, judicial foreclosure auctions jumped 34% between June 2012 and last month, national foreclosure activity decreased 14% in June from the previous month, down to its lowest level since December 2006, RealtyTrac reports. The number of foreclosure filings decreased 19% from the previous six months and was down 23% from the first half of 2012.

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