Foreclosures Fell to Lowest Level since December 2006 | Bedford Corners Real Estate

Not since Santa Claus visited the George W. Bush White House has the total of properties with foreclosure filings–default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – reached a level as low as they did last month.

RealtyTrac reported last week that 0.61 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 164) had at least one foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year. A total of 127,790 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings in June, down 14 percent from the previous month and down 35 percent from a year ago to the lowest monthly level since December 2006   Filings in the first half of the year totaled 801,359, representing a 19 percent decrease from the previous six months and a fall of 23 percent from the first half of 2012.

For a little perspective, here’s an excerpt from Freddie Mac’s economic outlook in December 2006:

“The recovery, however, will not be a re-run of the white-hot market in 2004-2005. Rather, there will likely be a return to more “normal” conditions next year, with starts and sales picking up only gradually and then growing at a modest pace. Nationally, house prices will likely appreciate around the rate of consumer price inflation, although there is a potential for real declines and some hard-hit areas will need greater improvements in the local economy before experiencing a housing recovery. With smaller price gains and reduced opportunities to extract equity, mortgage debt will grow more slowly. In short, housing markets will move off center stage, but will resume quietly providing homes and opportunities to build a nest egg for millions of American households.”

Things didn’t work out as planned.  Six years later, some 4.3 million nest eggs were lost to foreclosure and homeowners have lost $3 trillion in equity but at long last the recovery has begun and housing is back on center stage.

High-level findings from the report:

• U.S. foreclosure starts in June dropped 21 percent from the previous month and were down 45 percent from a year ago to the lowest monthly level since December 2005 – a seven and a half year low. Year to date through June, 409,491 foreclosure starts have been filed nationwide, on pace to reach more than 800,000 for the year, which would be down from 1.1 million foreclosure starts in 2012.
• Foreclosure starts in June decreased from the previous month in 38 states, including Nevada (down 84 percent), Colorado (down 62 percent), New Jersey (down 40 percent), Illinois (down 39 percent) and Florida (down 26 percent).

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