There was a big spike in banks repossessing foreclosed homes in April
Housing data analysis firm RealtyTrac released a report on the number of foreclosure filings in April. RealtyTrac found that 125,875 properties in the US had foreclosure filings in that month, a 9% increase from April 2014.
While that's a big tick up in the overall number of foreclosures, RealtyTrac observed that this is still part of the hangover from the last housing crash. Most of the growth in the number of foreclosures in April came from the last stage of a foreclosure, when the lender repossesses the house. As RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist put it in the report,
Indeed, foreclosure starts and auctions - the earlier stages of the foreclosure process - dropped in April, with both starts and auctions down 5% from April 2014.
The report also noted that Florida, Nevada, Maryland, and New Jersey had the highest rates of foreclosure in the country, illustrated in this interactive map RealtyTrac published along with the report:
The report also included this chart showing initial foreclosure filings and bank repossessions (REOs). For more details, check out the full report here:
