Foreclosures fall in US market

The level of distressed properties in the US fell in November compared to the previous month as lenders look to review their procedures.

Real estate foreclosures in the country fell to 21 per cent over the period, the latest figures from RealtyTrac show.

In total, there were 262,339 filings last month. This figure represents the first time that filings have fallen below 300,000 since February 2009 and is 14 per cent down on the statistics for one year previous.

"While part of the decrease can be attributed to a seasonal drop of seven per cent to ten per cent that typically occurs in November, fallout from the foreclosure robo-signing controversy forced lenders and servicers to hit the pause button on many foreclosures," said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

However, even with the large decline in November there is still an ever-growing inventory of properties in foreclosure or REO.

RealtyTrac estimates those properties plus delinquencies to equal three million to four million homes.

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