Foreclosures down 23.19% from October

Thursday, 10 December 2009

By Andy Owens
aowens@scbiznews.com

CHARLESTON – Foreclosures in South Carolina were down more than 23% from October to November, according to data released this morning by a national real estate tracking firm.

Distressed properties are still hurting the Palmetto State in year-to-year numbers, with November 2009 being almost 10% higher than November 2008, RealtyTrac reported.

Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, South Carolina ranks 30 in the number of foreclosures, with one out of every 911 homes in the state with at least a notice of default filed against it. Florida, which ranked No. 2, showed one home out of every 165 were in the process of foreclosure and had a month-to-month increase of 1.97% in foreclosure filings.

Nationally foreclosures were down 8%, RealtyTrac reported in its monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

The company reported that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 306,627 properties in the U.S. during November, which is up 18% from November 2008. The report also shows one in every 417 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in November.

For the second month in a row, RealtyTrac reported the same four states accounted for 52% of the nation’s total foreclosure activity: California, Florida, Illinois and Michigan.

“November was the fourth straight month that U.S. foreclosure activity has declined after hitting an all-time high for our report in July, and November foreclosure activity was at the lowest level we’ve seen since February,” said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.

Saccacio attributed loan modifications and other foreclosure prevention efforts, along with the extension of the federal homebuyer tax credit for keeping foreclosures and home value decline in check, what he called the most visible symptoms of the nation’s ailing housing market.

“This is providing a welcome respite for the real estate industry, but a full recovery will only come when unemployment recedes to normal, healthy levels and when availability of credit reaches a more rational balance between the extremes of the past few years,” he said.