Foreclosure Inventory Hits Lowest Level Since 2006

While 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, according to locally based online foreclosure-data source RealtyTrac. The number of foreclosure filings decreased 19% from the previous six months and was down 23% from the first half of 2012.


Judicial foreclosure auctions were up less than 1% from May, but up 34% from June 2012, the firm also reports. Washington was the only Western state where bank repossessions and foreclosure auctions had jumped.

“Halfway through 2013, it is becoming increasingly evident that while foreclosures are no longer a problem nationally, they continue to be a thorn in the side of several state and local markets, particularly where a backlog of delayed distress has built up thanks to a lengthy foreclosure process,” said Daren Blomquist, VP at RealtyTrac, in a prepared statement. “The increases in judicial foreclosure auctions demonstrate that these delayed foreclosure cases are now being moved more quickly through to foreclosure completion.”

Blomquist added that given the rising home prices in most of these markets, now is an opportune time for lenders to dispose of these distressed properties, either at the foreclosure auction to a third-party buyer. They can also by repossess the property at the auction and subsequently sell it as a bank-owned home.

As GlobeSt.com reported last week, two cities in California and one in Oregon represented the western region of the country in RealtyTrac’s newly released top 15 retirement hot spots for real estate investing. Rancho Mirage, CA, ranked 7^th, Florence, OR, ranked 11^th and Seal Beach, CA, ranked 14^th in the firm’s report.