Number of La. home foreclosures on the rise

The number of Louisiana homeowners facing foreclosure is on the rise. Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures nationwide, says foreclosure-related actions in April were taken against 2,289 properties. Those actions ranged from an initial notice of default to outright repossession by a lender. Last month, 1,349 housing units were scheduled for a foreclosure sale. Lenders took back 635. The rate of foreclosure actions—affecting one in every 858 housing units—was up 11.8% from March and 23.8% from April 2010. The April rate caused Louisiana to rank 22nd in the nation in foreclosures. RealtyTrac says that national foreclosure actions dropped 9% from March and 34% from April 2010, mostly because of legal questions about paperwork. April was the seventh straight month of national declines and brought foreclosure activity in the depressed U.S. housing market to a 40-month low. “The slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure,” says RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio. Nevada posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the 57th straight month in April, with one in every 97 housing units targeted for a foreclosure-related notice.