July Foreclosures Drop Nearly 10% from a Year Ago: RealtyTrac

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010, 11:00 pm

Foreclosure filings in July dropped 9.7% from the same month last year, the second straight month of yearly declines, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace.

After a 1% yearly increase in May, filings declined 6.9% on an annual basis in June and the nearly 10% drop in July. There were 325,229 properties that received a foreclosure filing in July, a 4% increase from May. It also marks the 17th consecutive month that foreclosure activity exceeded 300,000, said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

Saccacio added that default notices were down from the previous year for the sixth straight month in July as servicers and lenders have escalated repossessions (REOs) to near-record levels.

In July 97,123 properties received a default notice, a 28% decrease from July 2009 but a 1% increase from the previous month. Default notices are down 32% from the 142,064 peak in April 2009.

But 92,858 properties went back to the banks as REO in July, the second highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began tracking them in April 2005. It's 1% below the peak in May when there were 93,777 REO properties reported.

Nevada holds the highest foreclosure rate of any other state for 43rd consecutive month. There, one in 82 houses received a filing in July, and 13,727 total properties received a filing. That is a 7% uptick from last month but a 30% decrease from last year. July marks the 10th straight month of yearly decreases for Nevada.

Arizona held the second highest foreclosure rate. There, one in every 167 houses received a foreclosure filing, even though filings dropped year-over-year for the sixth straight month. Florida was third, where one in 171 houses received a filing. California registered the fourth highest, where one in 200 houses received a filing.

On the metropolitan-statistical area (MSA) level, the top-10 areas are showing a "bumpy downward trend," according to RealtyTrac. While those areas all showed decreases from last year in July, five of them had decreases from the previous month. The Las Vegas-Paradise area, where one in 71 houses received a foreclosure filing in July, had a 9% increase from the previous month.

Filings in the Cape Coral-Fort Meyers, Fla. area increased 21% from June, and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area had a 19% climb, the two biggest increases in the country.

by JON PRIOR

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Live, Love, Yoga & Real Estate

I think I'm going to rename this blog, "Live, Love, Yoga, Real Estate." It kind of goes hand in hand with my old "mind, body & business" motto. I've grown a lot since then though, and I'm much more than just mind, body and business these days. I'm also spirit, love, health and laughter. On a side note, I really wish I could add music to this blog. I have a great Muse song playing in the background, and it sets the mood perfectly. Anyway, not to digress, I am changing things. I'm not just going to do what I think everybody else wants me to do. I'm going to try being me for a change. I started this blog to be purely business related. But, then I got bored. I'm much more than just that, so now I'm just going to post whatever moves me at each moment. Don't worry, there will be plenty of real estate updates, but lots of other stuff, too. And yes, I'm going to add yoga into the equation. This may or may not work, but my next question is for who? My potential prospective clients? Well, being that I have 3 followers so far and one is my husband (and I've probably had this blog for about a year), I'm not sure what I've been doing up to this point has been working so well. So, now I'm just going to have fun, and make this a true Web Log. I'll say this in advance, if I offend anyone ever...view something else. Finally, if anyone is ever looking for a different kind of Realtor, give me a call: 949-922-1708.

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526 Riverside Ave
Newport Beach, CA 92663

On a more personal note:  after taking a short break from real estate, I'm diving back in head first. Only this time, I'm wearing protective eye wear, ear plugs, and a wet suit. I'm doing it differently. I plan on taking everything I know and that I've learned throughout the years and integrating it into everything that I do. I will make real estate work for me instead of me working for real estate. Most of all, it's got to be fun, because if it's not, I won't do it. I believe that the work you do can be very fulfilling. Once it stops being fulfilling, then something's got to change. Even the best job in the world can become cumbersome if you're not careful. Part time, I teach yoga (my dream job), but even that can feel like work sometimes. This time around, I want all of my work to feel less like work, and I plan on making this happen by setting boundaries. I'm not going to go into much detail about this, but so far so good. I'm smiling a lot lately. I hope you do, too.

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Home Prices in 20 US Cities Fall Less Than Forecast

Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Fall Less Than Forecast

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Home prices in 20 U.S. cities fell in June at a slower pace than forecast, signaling the real- estate crisis that triggered the worst recession since the 1930s is dissipating.

The S&P/Case-Shiller home-priceindex declined 15.4 percent from a year earlier, the smallest drop since April 2008, the group said today in New York. The gauge rose from the prior month by the most in four years.

Lower prices and government stimulus efforts have made homes more affordable to first-time buyers, spurring increases in sales that will eventually stem the slide in property values. Gains in housing and stocks will speed the process of restoring the record loss of wealth that has shackled consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

“The sharp freefall in prices is over,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York. “People are entering the market and that is starting to normalize prices. It’s a clear positive.”

A report from the Conference Board showed consumer confidence rebounded this month more than economists forecast. The New York-based private research group’s measure climbed to 54.1 from 47.4 in July as Americans became less concerned over job losses would keep mounting in coming months.

Stocks rose and Treasury securities fell after the reports provided additional evidence the economic slump was easing. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 1.1 percent to 1,036.97 at 10:01 a.m. in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note was 3.51 percent compared with 3.48 percent late yesterday.

The index was forecast to fall 16.4 percent after a 17 percent drop in the 12 months ended in May, according to the median forecast of 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Estimates ranged from declines of 15.7 percent to 17.1 percent.

Year-over-year records began in 2001 and the gauge has fallen every month since January 2007.

From a month earlier, home prices climbed 1.4 percent in June, the second consecutive gain and the biggest since June 2005, today’s report showed. The figures aren’t adjusted for seasonal effects, so economists prefer to focus on year-over- year changes instead of month to month.

“We are seeing some positive signs,” David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, said in a statement. “There are hints of an upward turn from a bottom.”

All of the 20 cities in the S&P/Case-Shiller index showed a year-over-year price decrease in June, led by a 32 percent plunge in Las Vegas. Dallas showed the smallest decline at 2.2 percent.

Compared with the prior month, 18 of the 20 areas covered showed an increase, while two showed a decrease. Cleveland and San Francisco had the biggest monthly gains.

Nationally, prices fell 14.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the smallest drop in a year, today’s report also showed. The measure increased 2.9 percent from the first quarter, the first gain in three years.

Foreclosures represent the biggest risk to a sustained improvement in values as more properties are thrown into an already flooded market. Americans fell behind on mortgage payments at a record pace last quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Aug. 20. The inventory of homes in foreclosure rose to the most in three decades of data, it said. Rising unemployment also may limit demand for housing.

At the same time, there are signs the worst of the crisis is over. Existing home sales in July jumped to the highest level in almost two years, boosted by lower prices, tax credits for first-time buyers and near-record-low borrowing costs, according to figures from the National Association of Realtors.

New-home sales, due tomorrow from the Commerce Department, probably rose in July for the fourth straight month, economists surveyed by Bloomberg project.

Demand has already improved enough for some construction companies to consider cutting back on discounts and incentives. Toll Brothers Inc., the largest U.S. luxury homebuilder, said contracts rose in the third quarter from a year earlier for the first time since 2005.

“As the supply of unsold housing inventory shrinks nationwide, and if consumer confidence continues to improve, we should see stronger demand,” Robert Toll, chief executive officer of the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company, said on an Aug. 12 conference call. “It has already positively impacted our pricing power as we are reducing incentives in many markets.”
Builder Index

The S&P builder supercomposite index is up 37 percent since the beginning of July as the housing outlook improved. The yield on Treasury securities has been little changed over that time even as the government sells more debt to finance its stimulus effort. The U.S. is auctioning $109 billion in notes over three days starting today, matching a record.

A home-price measure from the Federal Housing Finance Agency will also be issued later today. The national gauge has shown smaller losses than the S&P/Case-Shiller figures because it excludes houses bought with non-conventional mortgages. S&P/Case-Shiller includes those bought with non-conventional mortgages loans such as jumbo loans.

Robert Shiller, chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC and a professor at Yale University, and Karl Case, an economics professor at Wellesley College, created the home-price index based on research from the 1980s.

By Shobhana Chandra
To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net