Foreclosures Down In Wisconsin And Nation

Foreclosures in Wisconsin and across the nation have fallen substantially, according to the latest data from RealtyTrac. In the US foreclosure filings fell 28 percent in January, compared with the year before. That’s a new six-year low.

Daren Blomquist, Vice President of RealtyTrac, says the numbers in January in Wisconsin were also quite promising.

“The initial foreclosure starts were down 49 percent in Wisconsin, year over year. The scheduled foreclosures auctions were down 51 percent, and then the actual bank repossessions – where the bank takes back the property – were down 20 percent. So really, across the board in all stages of foreclosures, there was this drop. It’s a continuation of a trend we’ve been seeing for the last few months in Wisconsin.”

Blomquist says there’s now been five straight months of decreasing foreclosure activity in the state on a year over year basis. However, he says, Wisconsin still has the 16th-highest foreclosure rate in the nation. That’s an improvement over earlier last year, when the state ranked in the top ten.

RealtyTrac reports total foreclosures in Wisconsin dropped 41 percent in January, compared to January 2012. And foreclosures fell 32 percent in January, from the previous month.