The nation is easing into the brisk chill of mid-November and eyeing Thanksgiving right around the corner, and as the year winds down, foreclosure activity is beginning to pick up steam once again.
On a whole, foreclosure activity is up across the nation for the third straight month. Foreclosure filings rose by 7% in October, and even though overall activity is down from what it was in 2010, it is trending upward in a major way.
One way to better glimpse the movement of the market is to check out how the market is responding in various states and metro areas across the nation.
St. Louis Metro Area
Figures released for the St. Louis metro area revealed that foreclosure activity declined by 9% from September to October, and dropped by 41% from the same time last year. That is impressive for the area, which has seen its fair share of repo homes due to the relatively-high concentration of lower-class housing (particularly across the river in East St. Louis).
Illinois
Speaking of Illinois, the state’s monthly figures for October revealed a 9.7% increase in foreclosure filings – above the average 7% increase for the nation as a whole. This comes as no surprise to those who have followed the market in Illinois over the past couple of years. The state has reported one foreclosure for every 423 housing units in the state, which ranks 7th in the nation for that metric.
Massachusetts
In Massachusetts, foreclosure activity went up substantially like the rest of the country from September to October – even though activity has fallen by 51% from this time a year ago. Those numbers here, like elsewhere, are beginning to become meaningless, though, when considering the fact that foreclosures were largely put to a halt for a year due to the foreclosure fraud scandals that paralyzed the industry. In the state, banks are moving once again toward resuming a high rate of foreclosure as the state’s attorney general, Martha Coakley, works to reform foreclosures in the state and elsewhere.
Florida
Finally, in Florida, the state’s foreclosure rate rose to an 11-month high when it comes to the number of foreclosed homes for sale. The rate as a whole rose by a stunning 37% in the Sunshine State from September to October, but this massive increase is largely due to the state’s previous lack of foreclosures due to its sluggish judicial foreclosure process.