September Foreclosure Activity Decreases 24 Percent From a Year Ago to Lowest Level Since December 2005
Historical U.S. Foreclosure Activity ChartClick here for high-resolution version · Marketwired

IRVINE, CA --(Marketwired - October 13, 2016) - ATTOM Data Solutions, the nation's leading source for comprehensive housing data and the new parent company of RealtyTrac, today released its September and Q3 2016 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 82,972 properties with foreclosure filings -- default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions -- in September, down 13 percent from the previous month and down 24 percent from a year ago to the lowest level since December 2005.

There were a total of 293,190 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings in Q3 2016, up 4 percent from the previous quarter but down 10 percent from a year ago. It was the fourth consecutive quarter where foreclosure activity has decreased on a year-over-year basis.

"Foreclosure activity has been on a steady slide downward over the past six years, finally dropping back below pre-crisis levels in September," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions. "While we've known that the national foreclosure problem has been dying a long, slow death for quite some time, the final nail in the coffin of the foreclosure crisis is the year-over-year decrease in the average foreclosure timeline nationwide that we saw in Q3 2016 -- the first time that's happened since we began tracking foreclosure timelines in Q1 2007.

"The decrease in the average foreclosure timeline indicates that banks have worked through the bulk of the legacy foreclosure backlog in most states -- with a few lingering exceptions -- and that most of the foreclosures being completed now are relatively recent defaults that are more efficiently progressing through the foreclosure pipeline," Blomquist added.

Average time to foreclose decreases annually for first time in report history
Properties foreclosed in Q3 2016 took an average of 625 days to complete foreclosure, down from 631 days in the previous quarter and down from 630 days a year ago -- the first year-over-year decrease since ATTOM began tracking average foreclosure timelines in Q1 2007.

The average time to foreclose decreased from a year ago in 19 states, including Nevada (down 22 percent), Massachusetts (down 22 percent), Michigan (down 21 percent), Oregon (down 20 percent), and Texas (down 20 percent).

States with the shortest foreclosure timelines for properties foreclosed in the third quarter were Virginia (196 days), New Hampshire (230 days), Texas (246 days), Minnesota (250 days), and Mississippi (253 days). All five states with the shortest foreclosure timelines employ the non-judicial foreclosure process.