Local foreclosure activity down in September

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bethany Bump

New York continues to buck national foreclosure trends, while the Capital Region’s economic diversity continues to experience foreclosure activity all over the map.

As nationwide foreclosure activity reached a new low, New York saw increased activity last month and in the third quarter, according to the latest market report from RealtyTrac, a California-based firm that tracks foreclosures. Filings were reported on 3,257 homes last month across the state, a slight drop from the previous month but a whopping 71 percent increase from the same time last year.

The Capital Region experienced fewer default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions in September than in August, but more when compared to September 2011.

With only two foreclosure filings reported last month, Montgomery County experienced the largest percentage decrease in the Capital Region. One in every 11,532 homes was foreclosed on in September, a drop of 90.9 percent from a month earlier. The same activity was reported last September.

In Saratoga County, filings were reported on 18 homes last month. Foreclosures decreased 52.6 percent from August but more than tripled from the same time last year.

Albany County foreclosures decreased on both counts, with 40 homes in default, scheduled for auction or repossessed by a bank last month. This was a 35.5 percent drop from August and a 44.4 percent drop from the same time a year ago.

In Schenectady County, filings were reported on 15 homes in September — a 21.1 percent drop from the month before but a 114.3 percent increase from last September.

Fulton County reported filings last month on 13 homes for a 7.1 percent decrease from August and 550 percent increase from the same time one year ago.

Foreclosure activity was flat in Schoharie County, where filings were reported on two homes last month.

The nation’s foreclosure activity hit a five-year low last month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 180,427 properties in September, the lowest monthly total since July 2007, just one month before the nation’s housing crash.

Filings in September were down 7 percent from the previous month and down 16 percent from a year prior.

In the third quarter of this year filings were reported on 531,576 properties, or one in every 248 homes, across the nation. That represents a drop of 5 percent from the previous quarter and a drop of 13 percent from the same time last year.