Foreclosure Properties Nationwide Up by 44% in March

Nationwide, the number of repo properties soared in March by 44 percent to another record number of 175,199, based on foreclosure data from ForeclosureS.com.

The 44-percent increase in foreclosure properties is seen by housing analysts as largely driven by foreclosures filed after mortgage lenders, including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, ended their foreclosure moratoriums. Other factors are the continued increase in job layoffs and difficulties of homeowners in refinancing their loans.

In the first month of 2009, ForeclosureS.com saw a significant decrease in numbers of foreclosure properties, leading the foreclosure tracking service to say the housing market might be starting to recover.

Alexis McGee, president of ForeclosureS.com, said she hopes the 44-percent increase represents largely foreclosure properties hidden by foreclosure moratoriums launched in the last months of 2008 and first months of 2009.

Pre-foreclosure filings increased by nearly 6 percent to 225,131 units from February levels. For the first three months, there were 604,590 filings, representing a 15-percent increase from the last quarter of 2008 and a 17-percent increase from the first quarter of 2008.

California foreclosures rose by 59 percent, although the total number of foreclosure properties in the state is now much lower than the state’s peak in September 2008, which spurred state legislators to immediately enact a law to stop foreclosures.

Florida foreclosures increased by 33 percent while Arizona foreclosures soared by 45 percent. In charts of foreclosure properties and foreclosure rates compiled by ForeclosureS.com and RealtyTrac, California, Florida and Arizona are among the states on top. With their large inventories of foreclosure properties, home prices in these states also had the steepest declines.

In February, sales of existing homes nationwide increased by 5.1 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors. This increase, found to have been the highest increase in five years, was driven by sales of foreclosure properties priced much below their mortgage loan balances.

The increase in sales of distressed foreclosure properties also spurred new home construction, which stayed quiet for more than eight months due to the glut of foreclosure properties available at bargain prices.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, its sales index for new single-family houses rose from 9 points in March to 14 points in April, the highest level in a six-month period. NAHB economist David Crowe hopes the increase is a sign of the start of the housing sector’s recovery from the problem of foreclosure properties.

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