Number of foreclosures down in August, but default notices up

VEGAS INC coverage

Notices of default on home mortgages in Nevada rose sharply in August, but the overall number of foreclosure filings fell, according to a California research firm.

The 4,086 default filings in August is 31 percent higher than July, RealtyTrac reported. But overall, Nevada foreclosure filings fell 2.5 percent from July and were nearly 28 percent lower than August 2010, the firm reported.

Nevada kept its No. 1 national ranking, with one filing for every 118 households.

Las Vegas led cities with one filing for every 103 housing units, more than five times the national average. Las Vegas’s default notices rose 30 percent over July.

What brought Nevada’s numbers down were fewer homes repossessed and sold at auction. There was a 30 percent decline in scheduled auctions from July and 6 percent decline in repossessions.

But the pipeline of foreclosures hasn’t slowed with the increase in default notices. Default notices had been down as lending institutions under fire slowed the foreclosure process.

Despite the increase from July, default notices in Nevada were still down 32 percent from August 2010.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings rose 7.2 percent between July and August. The reason was default notices reached a nine-month high and were 33 percent higher than July.

Default notices increased more than 40 percent month-over-month in several states, including California, but were still down from a year ago.

“The big increase in new foreclosure actions may be a signal that lenders are starting to push through some of the foreclosures delayed by robo-signing and other documentation problems,” said James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive officer. “It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process.”

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