Foreclosure Activity Drops in Most Metro Areas

According to RealtyTrac, foreclosure rates in the 1^st half of this current year decreased 84% in 211 metropolitan areas examined.

Although foreclosure rates are improving in most metropolitan markets, RealtyTrac experts assume that the waning foreclosure numbers could be a natural side effect of the robo-signing debacle which is slowing the foreclosure process instead of a true clearing of excess foreclosure inventory.

Areas located in Arizona, Nevada and California was at the top of the list for metro areas with the highest foreclosure filings.

Florida, whose markets are well known for being hit very hard by the real estate bubble burst, saw a taper in foreclosure activity within the 1^st half of the year with only Cape Coral-Fort Myers showing up within the top-twenty cities with the largest foreclosure rates.  Interestingly enough, cities within Florida held 9 spots on the top twenty lists from 2010.

The highest metro foreclosure rate is currently held by the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area.  One in every 19 housing units have become subject to foreclosure filings within the 1^st half of the year which is 6 times higher than the national average.

Another area which ranked high (2.96% foreclosure rate) was the Reno-Sparks area.  Down 8% was the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale areas which saw 60,985 properties receive a foreclosure filing in the 1^st half of 2011—a reduction of nearly 17% from a year ago.