Foreclosures Dip 5% in First Half of Year

ForeclosureListingsNationwide.com, a leading provider of foreclosure listings and foreclosure investment information, announced a nationwide 5% decrease in foreclosure properties over the past six months. Much of the decrease occurred during the second quarter of 2010, when foreclosures fell 4% from the previous quarter and were up only 1% from the second quarter of 2009.

With a total of 1,654,630 properties entering some stage of the foreclosure process from January 1 to June 30, the mid-year statistics show a slowing trend over the first part of the year, and a year over year decrease of almost 7% from June of 2009. But experts warn buyers not to read into the statistics as the end of the foreclosure trend.

"We're seeing a decline in foreclosure rates not because the market is repairing itself, but because banks are providing homeowners more time to pay off their debts before a foreclosure occurs in order to slow the trend," remarks Jason Gallagher, a business analyst with Foreclosure Listings Nationwide. "This basically means we're not seeing as many new foreclosure properties. But we are seeing many existing foreclosure properties moving out of the foreclosure limbo stage into repossession by banks."

According to statistics, bank repossessions did increase roughly 5% during the second quarter, and have increased by an astounding 38% since the second quarter of 2009.

"There are a huge backlog of REO and bank owned homes right now, and banks are going to be eager to get them off their hands fast," says Mr. Gallagher. "That means low prices for buyers and investors, especially in places like Nevada, California and Florida."

Nevada still tops the nation with 1 in every 17 homes entering some stage of the foreclosure process during the first 6 months of 2010. Remarkably, this number is still down 6% from the same period of 2009. Arizona had the second highest rate, with 1 in 30 homes. Florida came in third with 1 in 32 homes. Other states with some of the highest foreclosure rates during this period were Utah, Michigan, Idaho and Colorado.

Among states with the highest foreclosure volume totals, California was the clear leader with over 344,750 foreclosure properties. Florida had 277,000, and Arizona was in third with roughly 91,500. Close behind were Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Nevada and Ohio.

For more information on foreclosure investing and to browse listings for REO and other foreclosure properties, visit www.ForeclosureListingsNationwide.com.

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This release was issued on behalf of the above organization by Send2Press(R), a unit of Neotrope(R). http://www.Send2Press.com