US foreclosure activity jumped in August for the second consecutive month, industry firm RealtyTrac said on Thursday. Overall, 116,913 properties were at some stage of the foreclosure process, which includes foreclosure notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, the group said. That pushed overall activity up 7 per cent from July. From a year ago, foreclosure activity was down 9 per cent.
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July was the second consecutive month in which foreclosure starts were up month-over-month.
Foreclosure activity increased from a year ago in eight of the markets with top 10 highest foreclosure rates. The two markets with decreases in foreclosure activity from a year ago were Miami, down 10 per cent, and Tampa, down 14 per cent.
A total of 51,192 properties were set for foreclosure auctions last month, a 1 per cent drop from July but up 1 per cent from a year ago, ending a 44-month streak of annual decreases.
Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased from a year ago in 24 states, including Colorado, up 160 per cent, Oregon, up 117 per cent, Connecticut, up 81 per cent, New York, up 81 per cent, Oklahoma, up 72 per cent, New Jersey, up 71 per cent, Illinois, up 25 per cent, South Carolina, up 21 per cent, and Maryland, up 17 per cent.
“The August foreclosure numbers demonstrate that although the foreclosure crisis is well behind us, the messy business of cleaning up the distress lingering from the housing bust continues in many markets,” said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. “The annual increase in foreclosure auctions indicates mortgage servicers are finally adjusting to the new paradigms for proper foreclosure that have been implemented in many states.”