June foreclosures down, lowest since July 2006. Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased in Florida.

June foreclosures down 2% – lowest since July 2006

 © 2014 Florida Realtors®

IRVINE, Calif. – July 17, 2014 — RealtyTrac's Foreclosure Market Report for June finds that 107,194 U.S. properties had a foreclosure filing during the month – a drop of 2 percent from May and 16 percent year-to-year.

"Nationwide foreclosure activity in June reached an important milestone, dropping to levels not seen since before the housing price bubble burst in August 2006," says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

"Over the next six to nine months, nationwide foreclosure numbers should start to flat line at consistently historically normal levels," Blomquist adds.

• A total of 47,243 U.S. properties started the foreclosure process for the first time (not including re-filings) in June, down 4 percent month-to-month and 18 percent year-to-year. It's the lowest level of foreclosure starts since November 2005 for an 8.5-year low.

• Lenders repossessed 26,889 U.S. properties via foreclosure in June, down 5 percent month-to-month and 24 percent year-to-year. It's the lowest level of repossession since June 2007 for an 84-month (seven-year) low.

• A total of 46,743 U.S. properties were scheduled for foreclosure auctions that did not yet take place (in some states they're also foreclosure starts) in June, down 1 percent month-to-month and 13 percent year-to-year for the lowest level since July 2006 – a 95-month low.

Scheduled foreclosure auctions increased from the previous month in 12 states including Florida, which saw a 15 percent rise in June.

Florida markets in first half of 2014

Despite the annual decrease, Miami posted the nation's highest metro foreclosure rate in the first half of 2014: 1.65 percent of all housing units (one in 61) had a foreclosure filing during the first half of the year.

Eight other Florida metro areas joined Miami among the top 10 metro foreclosure rates nationwide: Orlando at No. 2 (1.57 percent of all housing units with a foreclosure filing); Port St. Lucie at No. 3 (1.49 percent); Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville at No. 4 (1.49 percent); Tampa-St. Petersburg at No. 5 (1.41 percent); Lakeland at No. 6 (1.35 percent); Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach at No. 7 (1.29 percent); Ocala at No. 8 (1.26 percent); and Jacksonville at No. 9 (1.24 percent).

Of the Florida markets with top 10 foreclosure rates, all posted annual decreases in foreclosure activity except for Port St. Lucie (up 19 percent from a year ago), Lakeland (up 2 percent), and Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach (up 21 percent).

The only metro area outside Florida with a top 10 foreclosure rate in the first half of 2014 was Rockford, Ill., where 1.24 percent of housing units (one in 81) had a foreclosure filing during the six-month period.

The average time to complete the foreclose process in Florida was 925 days. The state ranked second to New Jersey (1,098 days) and was followed by New York (930 days), Hawaii (915 days), Illinois (850 days) and Massachusetts (784 days).