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IRVINE, CA—While the number of US residential properties with foreclosure filings is down 18% in 2014 from the previous year, the number of starts is increasing as properties continue to work through the system, according to a report from RealtyTrac. US foreclosure starts increased to a 17-month high in December, but the annual 1.1 million properties with foreclosure filings in 2014 was the lowest annual total since 2006, when there were 717,522 properties with foreclosure filings nationwide.
The report also shows that .85% of all US housing units had at least one foreclosure filing in 2014. This was the first time since 2006 that the annual foreclosure rate has been below 1% of all housing units.
According to Daren Blomquist, VP of RealtyTrac, “The US foreclosure numbers in 2014 show a foreclosure market that is close to finding a floor and stabilizing at a historically normal level. But a recent surge in foreclosure starts and scheduled foreclosure auctions in several states in that last few months of 2014 indicate that lenders are gearing up for a spring cleaning of deferred distress in the first half of 2015 in some local markets.”
Blomquist tells GlobeSt.com, “Somewhat counterintuitively, the spring cleaning of distressed assets will act as a sales stimulant in more markets, providing more inventory in the lower price ranges that are attractive to both investors and first-time homebuyers. Many of those investors are cash buyers and are still hungry for this type of inventory, so I would not be surprised to see another uptick in cash sales in the first half of the year as a result.”
As GlobeSt.com reported in December 2014, foreclosure filings decreased nationally 9% in November from the previous month, but foreclosure starts increased 6% from a year ago, the first year-over-year increase following 27 consecutive months of year-over-year decreases, according to a report from RealtyTrac. A total of 55,906 US properties started the foreclosure process in November, a decrease of 1% from the previous month.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
