Number of foreclosures falls in Minn.
The number of Minnesota properties with a foreclosure filing fell last year.
Foreclosure activity dropped by more than 14 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010.
New numbers from RealtyTrac show 7,350 Minnesota properties with a foreclosure filing in the last three months of last year. Overall, 25,417 Minnesota properties had foreclosure filings in 2011, or about 19 percent fewer than in 2010.
Realtytrac foreclosure data count properties with at least one default notice, scheduled auction or bank repossession.
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Daren Blomquist of Realtytrac said the Minnesota numbers reflect a downward trend nationwide, but he expects more foreclosures in 2012.
"In Minnesota, we've seen over 70,000 homes since 2007 be foreclosed on so we are looking at significant numbers," Blomquist said. "We've gone through a lot of foreclosure pain so far, and so we are finally starting to see a little bit of the light at the end of the tunnel."
Part of the drop in foreclosure activity is due to lender processing delays, Blomquist said, and that there could be a spike in foreclosures in 2012 as lenders work through the delays.
"We saw a kind of turning of the corner there where the numbers started going back up and that is the first stage of the process," Blomquist said. "That will foreshadow more actual completed foreclosures in 2012 in Minnesota."