RealtyTrac: Foreclosure Activity Declines 26% In 2013 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, Thursday reported that foreclosure activity in the year 2013 declined 26 percent.

In its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, the agency noted that foreclosure filings, i.e., default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, were reported on about 1.36 million U.S. properties in 2013, down 26 percent from 2012 and down 53 percent from the peak period of 2010.

The report also showed that 1.04 percent of U.S. housing units, or one in every 96, had at least one foreclosure filing during the year, down from 1.39 percent of housing units in 2012.

Total foreclosure activity in 2013 increased in 10 states. States with the highest foreclosure rates in the year were Florida, Nevada, Illinois, Maryland , and Ohio. A total of 747,728 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process in 2013, down 33 percent from 2012.

Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said, "But the shadow cast by the foreclosure crisis is shrinking as fewer distressed properties enter foreclosure and properties already in foreclosure are poised to exit in greater numbers in 2014 given the greater numbers of scheduled foreclosure auctions in 2013 in judicial states -- which account for the bulk of U.S. foreclosure inventory."