Foreclosures during the first quarter of the year dipped to their lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2006, RealtyTrac said in a report released Thursday.
There were 289,116 properties with foreclosure filings during the first quarter, the company said.
However, foreclosure activity remained 25% above the pre-recession average, the company said in the report. Metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates during the first quarter were Atlantic City, N.J., Trenton, N.J., Baltimore, Lakeland, Fla., and Rockford, Ill.
Foreclosure activity was lower than the pre-recession levels in several states, including Colorado, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, California, Arizona and Ohio.
Foreclosure activity also increased 11% from February to March.
The March increase was caused by a jump in pre-foreclosure notices, foreclosure starts and scheduled foreclosure auctions. Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased 25% between February and March, according to RealtyTrac.
Properties foreclosed on during the first quarter of the year were in foreclosure an average of 625 days, down 1% from the previous quarter.
The number of properties with foreclosure filings, 289,116, was far lower than the 937,840 recorded during the second quarter of 2009.
"Despite a seasonal bump in March, foreclosure activity in most markets continues to trend lower and back toward more healthy, stable levels," Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac's senior vice president, said.
He said he expects the number of markets that report foreclosure activity below their pre-recession levels to continue to grow.
To produce its foreclosure market report, RealtyTrac used the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure action. Data was collected from more than 2,500 counties nationwide.
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