Colorado mortgage foreclosures dropped 20 percent in November compared with October, and 24 percent when compared with November 2010, according to RealtyTrac Inc. data released today.
There was one foreclosure for every 575 households in the state, putting Colorado 11th in the nation for November foreclosures.
Garfield County was hardest hit with one foreclosure filing for every 253 households, Adams was second with one for every 315, and Weld as third with one foreclosure for every 324 households.
Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate last month with one in every 175 households receiving a foreclosure notice, according to RealtyTrac.
California was second and accounted for 28 percent of reported 224,394 foreclosure filings in the nation.
U.S. foreclosure activity slowed sharply starting in October of 2010, after problems surfaced with the way many lenders were handling foreclosures.
Still, there are signals that foreclosure activity will increase in coming months.
The number of homes in foreclosure and scheduled to be auctioned hit a nine-month high last month, RealtyTrac said. The surge came after a spike three months earlier in homes entering the foreclosure process for the first time.
“Despite a seasonal slowdown similar to what we’ve seen each of the past four years, November’s numbers suggest a new set of incoming foreclosure waves,” said RealtyTrac chief executive officer James Saccacio.
Banks stepped up action in August against homeowners whose mortgages had gone unpaid.
The number of homes receiving an initial notice of default that month jumped 33 percent from July. Default notices also rose between September and October.
That helped set the stage for the sharp increase in scheduled foreclosure auctions last month and will likely contribute to an anticipated bump in home repossessions early next year, Saccacio said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
