Foreclosure Filings Hit 4 Year Low:

The number of U.S. homes that received a foreclosure filing fell to a four-year low in 2011 as a slowdown in processing hit the market, RealtyTrac said in a report on Thursday.

Foreclosure filings, which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, slid by 34 percent in 2011, the lowest level since 2007, just as the housing market was starting to crumble. RealtyTrac said there were filings on 1,887,777 homes last year.

Bank seizures of homes fell to 804,423 from 1,050,500 in 2010, also marking the lowest level in four years.

“A big part that is inflating the size of the decrease is a continuing extended foreclosure process,” said Daren Blomquist, director of marketing communications at RealtyTrac.

Nevada ranked as the state with highest foreclosure rate for the fifth year in a row, with one in 16 Nevada homes receiving at least one foreclosure filing in 2011. Even so, Nevada saw a 31 percent decrease in foreclosure activity for the year.

The length of time for foreclosure processing continued to increase in the final quarter of the year. Homes took on average 348 days to move through the process, up from 336 days in the third quarter and 305 days in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Foreclosures took the longest in New York state, where homes foreclosed in the fourth quarter took an average 1,019 days to complete the process. RealtyTrac also released foreclosure activity for December, which fell to a 49-month low of 205,024 homes, down nearly 9 percent from November. But bank repossessions rose 10 percent to 61,774.

What Happened to Rates Last Week:

Mortgage backed securities (MBS) gained +14 basis points from last Friday to the prior Friday which moved mortgage rates slightly lower. We had a mixed bag of economic data with very strong readings in Consumer Sentiment but we had weaker than expected Retail Sales data. Demand for our 10 year Treasury auction was very strong but pulled back on the 30 year Treasury bond auction. With the long weekend, traders moved their money into bonds on Friday which helped to push mortgage rates lower.

It is virtually impossible for you to keep track of what is going on with the economy and other events that can impact the housing and mortgage markets. Just leave it to me, I monitor the live trading of Mortgage Backed Securities which are the only thing government and conventional mortgage rates are based upon.

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• Foreclosures Numbers With Big Drop, Reaching 2007 Levels (michael-mcdevitt.com)

Foreclosures Numbers With Big Drop, Reaching 2007 Levels

During 2011, one in every 69 homes received a foreclosure filing and 804,000 homes were repossessed — compared to 1.05 million homes that were repossessed during the foreclosure crisis peak in 2010. Foreclosure filings posted a 33 percent drop in 2011, falling to their lowest levels since 2007, RealtyTrac reports.

Foreclosures have plagued many communities, putting downward pressure on overall home prices. In the past five years, more than 4 million homes have been lost to foreclosure.

So is the worst finally over for the housing market?

Not yet, analysts say. Banks took more time to process foreclosures last year, which explains some of the declines, housing analysts note. In fact, the average process time for a foreclosure rose to 348 days in the fourth quarter, up from 305 days one year prior.

The RealtyTrac CEO says that while he expects foreclosures to increase in 2012, he also expects foreclosures to  stay well below the 2010 peak. Refinancing programs, such as the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, are helping more borrowers lower their payments and avoid foreclosure, although not every homeowner will qualify for these programs.

The biggest problems with foreclosures remains centered in certain areas, particularly where investors helped drive up home prices during the housing boom. For example, Nevada remains the No. 1 foreclosure hot-spot, in which one out of every 16 households received some kind of default notice during 2011. Arizona and California also are continuing to face some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country too, according to RealtyTrac data.