Foreclosure activity was down significantly in February across a 28-county metro area, according to one national data company, but a local expert cautions it may be a temporary decline.
The number of metro Atlanta homes repossessed by banks last month fell 25 percent from February 2010 and nearly 40 percent from January, according to RealtyTrac, a company that tracks foreclosure activity. But there is a reason, said Jim Grissett, an adjunct Emory professor who specializes in real estate.
He said the numbers, while good signs for the housing market and overall economy, may reflect slowdowns or moratoriums on foreclosures by major lenders in the fall of 2010 amid concern over procedural problems.
“I think those precautions have decelerated the flow of actual foreclosures,” Grissett said “And that has created an incentive to play ball in the short selling process.”
Total foreclosure activity, which includes filings of foreclosure notices as well as actual repossessions, in the 28-county area fell by 20 percent, when compared to the same period the year before, and nearly 22 percent when compared to the month before.
That is the most significant year-over-year decrease in a number of months.
Nationally, all foreclosure activity decreased 14 percent in February from the previous month and 27 percent from the previous year, according to a news release.
“Foreclosure activity dropped to a 36-month low in February as allegations of improper foreclosure processing continued to dog the mortgage servicing industry and disrupt court dockets,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in the release. He said the industry is “in the midst of a major overhaul that has severely restricted its capacity to process foreclosures.”
Saccacio and Grissett said they expect to see foreclosure activity climb again, but it is hard to say when.
“And monthly volume may never return to its peak in March 2010 of more than 367,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings,” Saccacio said, of the national picture.
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