Foreclosure Rates Are Falling (Despite What You See In The Headlines)

According to RealtyTrac, the rate of foreclosures across the U.S. is slowing.  Versus May, June foreclosures fell at a 3 percent clip. 25 states showed improvement month-over-month, led by many of the same areas that had fueled foreclosure activity in 2007.  A sampling of RealtyTrac's data includes:

• California : Foreclosures down 4.54 percent
• Georgia : Foreclosures down 14.91 percent
• Arizona : Foreclosures down 0.07 percent
• Michigan : Foreclosures down 6.00 percent
• Illinois : Foreclosures down 15.65 percent

However, the improving nature of the data is not what is making news this morning.  Instead, the press is reporting that foreclosures are up by half since last year and that bank seizures have tripled. And while the annual data may be accurate, that doesn't mean that it's necessarily relevant to home buyers and home sellers across the country.

This is because people buying and selling homes don't usually boast an 'annual' mentality; when someone's an active participant in the real estate market, the mentality is 'right now'. In other words, annual data fits an economist, but month-to-month data fits you. June's foreclosure data may be the start of a trend, or it may be a blip. 

It's really too soon to tell. 

But the RealtyTrac data reinforces what real estate professionals already know -- that markets all over the country are showing signs of life. Tomorrow, I’ll post the stats for bank owned, short sales, pre-foreclosre and HUD owned homes in the Indianapolis real estate market.