Home foreclosures fall in California, jump in Nevada

California’s year-over-year foreclosure activity – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – saw a double-digit percentage decline in February, according to Irvine-based RealtyTrac.

It reported Thursday that foreclosure filings were reported on 11,538 California properties last month, down about 11.5 percent from 13,053 in February 2014 and a nearly 8 percent drop from January this year.

Nationwide, RealtyTrac said U.S. foreclosure filings in February totaled 101,938, a decrease of 4 percent from revised January numbers and down 9 percent from February 2014. The residential real estate tracker said the national total was the lowest since July 2006.

“Given that August 2006 was the peak of the housing bubble, this eight-and-a-half year low in foreclosure activity is a significant milestone and a sign that nationwide foreclosure activity is on track to return to historic norms this year,” Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac vice president, said in a statement.

It was not all good news nationwide.

RealtyTrac said 24 states posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity last month. In Nevada, February’s foreclosure activity increased nearly 12 percent (2,069 properties) from a year ago. Nevada’s foreclosure rate was the nation’s second highest, with one in 569 of Nevada properties undergoing a foreclosure filing last month.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Home foreclosures fall in California, jump in Nevada."