Louisiana followed the national pattern in home foreclosures last month, seeing a sharp decline from June as well as from July 2010. But foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac says this is not cheering news for housing markets. The Irvine, Calif.-based company says delays on clearing out the backlog of troubled housing loans is simply extending the current housing crisis. In July, 1,704 Louisiana properties were targeted for some sort of foreclosure action. Those ranged from an initial notice of default to repossession by a lender. But most of the Louisiana actions marked either the end of the process or close to the end for troubled homeowners: 637 properties were seized by lenders, while 761 received a final sale notice. Louisiana ranked 27th in the country in foreclosure notices, with one in every 1,152 housing units targeted last month. Still, the count was down 17.7% from June and 22.6% from July 2010. Nationally, foreclosure actions hit a 44-month low and posted their 10th consecutive monthly decline. U.S. foreclosures dropped 4% from June and 35% from July 2010. The June actions hit one in every 611 U.S. housing units.
About a year ago, foreclosure actions were slowed when court challenges were launched to challenge the legality of many foreclosure documents. RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio says that since then, government-led foreclosure prevention efforts—including loan modifications and lender-borrower mediation—have slowed the tide further. Some lending institutions also have let up on foreclosure actions to keep from being swamped by distressed properties.
