Home foreclosures in the US have plummeted for the first time in four years, as the economy recovered from the latest recession fuelled by a mortgage meltdown, according to a real estate company.
According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure fillings, including auctions, bank repossessions and default notices, were recorded on 333,837 properties in April, a nine-percent drop from the previous month and a two-percent decline from the previous year.
This was the first year-over-year decline since RealtyTrac started recording the annual foreclosure rates in the country in January 2006, more than two years before the US fell into an economic recession resulting from the mortgage crisis.
“There were two important milestones in the April numbers that show foreclosure activity has begun to plateau – but at a very high level that will not drop off in the near future,” said RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio. “April was the first month in the history of our report with an annual decrease in US foreclosure activity. Secondly, bank repossessions hit a record monthly high for the report even while default notices dropped substantially on a monthly and annual basis.” The company expects a smaller pattern for the rest of the year.
About 92,432 properties were repossessed by lenders in April, a one-percent increase from the previous month and a 45-percent increase from last year. Banks repossessions were nearly one percent above the previous peak of 92,182 properties in December last year.
Additionally, the state of Nevada posted the highest foreclosure rate in the US for the 40th straight month, with one in every 69 homes receiving foreclosure fillings last month, more than five times compared to the national average.