Foreclosures Jump in New York as U.S. Sees Decline
By Dan Levy - Apr 11, 2013
Foreclosure (HOMFCLOS) notices surged last month in states where courts oversee home seizures, slowing the process and causing prices to lag behind in the U.S. housing recovery, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
Across the country, 152,500 properties received default, auction and repossession notices in March, a decline of 1 percent from the previous month and 23 percent from a year earlier, the Irvine, California-based data seller said today in a report. So-called judicial states such as New York and Maryland where more time is needed to take property from delinquent borrowers had a 4 percent gain from March 2012. Notices fell 44 percent in non-judicial states, RealtyTrac said.
At this point, the housing market is healing itself and theres not a lot you can do if a foreclosure is inevitable, said Paul Willen, senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Its in the best interests of lenders and the community to get the home in the hands of a new owner.
Judicial states showed late-blooming foreclosures in default data from March, Daren Blomquist, RealtyTracs vice president, said in an interview. First-time notices tripled in New York and soared 193 percent in Maryland, the biggest gains nationally from a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.
Were at an artificially low level of inventory right now, so any increase in foreclosure starts would be a welcome sign, at least in the investment community, Jack BeVier, a partner at Baltimore-based Dominion Group, which buys and renovates homes, said in a telephone interview. People are more optimistic about the housing rebound and ready to come off the sidelines, but theres not much to choose from.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-11/foreclosures-jump-in-new-york-as-u-s-sees-decline-mortgages.html