MONROE - Home foreclosures filed in Green and Lafayette County circuit courts during 2011 were down from the previous year, and were continuing to fall in the first quarter of 2012, marking perhaps a downward trend ahead of recent national numbers.
But some analysts say a glut of new foreclosures nationally may be just around the corner.
In Green County, the total number of foreclosure cases dropped from an all-time high of 190 in 2010 to 146 last year, the lowest since 2007. In the first quarter of 2012, they were down by 30 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011, from 53 to 37. But the numbers crept up from eight in January to 14 in March 2012.
Lafayette County foreclosures in 2011 were down for a second year in a row, falling to 54 from 66 in 2010 and from 81, its highest, in 2009. The county had 53 total cases filed in 2008 and 47 in 2007. In first-quarter comparisons, Lafayette County shows a 14-percent drop from 14 in 2011 to 12 in 2012. And the county had only two foreclosures filed in March, compared to five in both January and in February 2012.
Nation-wide foreclosure filings - as measured by the number of properties receiving a notice of default, scheduled for auction or repossessed by lenders - for the first three months of this year fell 2 percent compared to the last quarter of 2011 and were down 16 percent from the first quarter of last year, according a report released last week by foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.
RealtyTrac reported the first-quarter foreclosure filings total was the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2007. The report shows one in every 230 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter. March's total was a 4-percent decrease from February 2012 and a 17 percent decrease from March 2011, and was the lowest monthly total since July 2007.
In the report, Wisconsin is ranked ninth among the states with the highest foreclosure rates in March, with one out of every 578 households, more than 4,500 total, in the state receiving a foreclosure notice during the month. Wisconsin was ranked 13th at the end of the first quarter in 2011, and had an annual ranking of 12th for the year with one in every 68 Wisconsin housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in 2011.
Locally, about 1 in every 1,130 households in Green County received a foreclosure notice the March, and one in every 1,800 in Lafayette County.
The greatest March 2012 foreclosure rate in Green County by Zip code was in the northeast, with 1 in 204 households, for a total of seven, receiving notices in Brooklyn.
Monroe had the second highest number with four notices, about one in 1,700 households, but Browntown with one foreclosure notice had the second highest ratio (1:485) in the county.
The zip codes of Albany (1:1,079) and Brodhead (1:2,894) had one notice each.
The trouble in the nation, which Wisconsin will probably also see, is a backup of foreclosures about to come.
"The low foreclosure numbers in the first quarter are not an indication that the massive reservoir of distressed properties built up over the past few years has somehow miraculously evaporated," said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
"There are hairline cracks in the dam, evident in the sizable foreclosure activity increases in judicial foreclosure states over the past several months, along with an increase in foreclosure starts in many judicial and non-judicial states in March," Moore added. " The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days, but it will eventually burst."
Foreclosure activity, as measured by the number of homes receiving foreclosure-related notices, slowed sharply in the fall of 2010 when claims surfaced that some banks and mortgage servicers were processing foreclosures without verifying documents.
A $25 billion settlement reached in February between the nation's biggest mortgage lenders and state officials has paved the way for banks to take action on unpaid mortgages, many of which have been in a procedural limbo for months or years. And it's those homes that could ultimately be foreclosed-upon and end up back on the market.
But some analysts say a glut of new foreclosures nationally may be just around the corner.
In Green County, the total number of foreclosure cases dropped from an all-time high of 190 in 2010 to 146 last year, the lowest since 2007. In the first quarter of 2012, they were down by 30 percent compared to the same quarter in 2011, from 53 to 37. But the numbers crept up from eight in January to 14 in March 2012.
Lafayette County foreclosures in 2011 were down for a second year in a row, falling to 54 from 66 in 2010 and from 81, its highest, in 2009. The county had 53 total cases filed in 2008 and 47 in 2007. In first-quarter comparisons, Lafayette County shows a 14-percent drop from 14 in 2011 to 12 in 2012. And the county had only two foreclosures filed in March, compared to five in both January and in February 2012.
Nation-wide foreclosure filings - as measured by the number of properties receiving a notice of default, scheduled for auction or repossessed by lenders - for the first three months of this year fell 2 percent compared to the last quarter of 2011 and were down 16 percent from the first quarter of last year, according a report released last week by foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc.
RealtyTrac reported the first-quarter foreclosure filings total was the lowest quarterly total since the fourth quarter of 2007. The report shows one in every 230 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the quarter. March's total was a 4-percent decrease from February 2012 and a 17 percent decrease from March 2011, and was the lowest monthly total since July 2007.
In the report, Wisconsin is ranked ninth among the states with the highest foreclosure rates in March, with one out of every 578 households, more than 4,500 total, in the state receiving a foreclosure notice during the month. Wisconsin was ranked 13th at the end of the first quarter in 2011, and had an annual ranking of 12th for the year with one in every 68 Wisconsin housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in 2011.
Locally, about 1 in every 1,130 households in Green County received a foreclosure notice the March, and one in every 1,800 in Lafayette County.
The greatest March 2012 foreclosure rate in Green County by Zip code was in the northeast, with 1 in 204 households, for a total of seven, receiving notices in Brooklyn.
Monroe had the second highest number with four notices, about one in 1,700 households, but Browntown with one foreclosure notice had the second highest ratio (1:485) in the county.
The zip codes of Albany (1:1,079) and Brodhead (1:2,894) had one notice each.
The trouble in the nation, which Wisconsin will probably also see, is a backup of foreclosures about to come.
"The low foreclosure numbers in the first quarter are not an indication that the massive reservoir of distressed properties built up over the past few years has somehow miraculously evaporated," said Brandon Moore, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.
"There are hairline cracks in the dam, evident in the sizable foreclosure activity increases in judicial foreclosure states over the past several months, along with an increase in foreclosure starts in many judicial and non-judicial states in March," Moore added. " The dam may not burst in the next 30 to 45 days, but it will eventually burst."
Foreclosure activity, as measured by the number of homes receiving foreclosure-related notices, slowed sharply in the fall of 2010 when claims surfaced that some banks and mortgage servicers were processing foreclosures without verifying documents.
A $25 billion settlement reached in February between the nation's biggest mortgage lenders and state officials has paved the way for banks to take action on unpaid mortgages, many of which have been in a procedural limbo for months or years. And it's those homes that could ultimately be foreclosed-upon and end up back on the market.