WASHINGTON — The number of American homeowners dragged into the housing crisis fell last month to the lowest level since June as new state laws lengthened the foreclosure process, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.
“We’re going to have a pretty significant spike in January,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president for marketing.
As job losses mount, “increases in foreclosure activity follow that pretty directly,” he added.
More than 259,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in November, down 7 percent from October but 28 percent higher than a year ago, RealtyTrac said.
In Colorado, RealtyTrac recorded 5,327 foreclosure filings in November, a 17.1 percent decline from the same month a year ago.
Colorado had one foreclosure filing for every 393 households, a rate that ranked eighth among states.
RealtyTrac monitors default notices, auction-sale notices and bank repossessions.
More than 78,000 properties were repossessed by lenders last month, said the Irvine, Calif.-based company.
In RealtyTrac’s report, Nevada led the nation with one in every 76 homes receiving a foreclosure filing last month.
