Foreclosure auctions in Minnesota and elsewhere across the country fell during March, but an uptick in notices warning of possible default increased slightly, suggesting that there could be another uptick in repossessions down the road.
RealtyTrac said Thursday morning that foreclosure filings, including default notices and sheduled auctions and repossessions, were reported on 152,500 properties, down 1 percent from February and down 23 percent from last year.
Minnesota, which had the 23 highest level of foreclosure filings, saw a 21 percent increase from February, but a 23 percent decline from last year with one in every 1,228 housing units receiving a filing during the month compared with 859 nationwide.
Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said that although the overall national foreclosure trend continues to head lower, "late-blooming foreclosures are bolting higher in some local markets where aggressive foreclosure prevention efforts in previous years are wearing off," he said. "Meanwhile, more recent foreclosure prevention efforts in other states have drastically increased the average time to foreclose, which could result in a similar outbreak of delayed foreclosures down the road in those states."
Here's a link to the full report.
