Report: Mississippi’s foreclosures fall — slightly

ACROSS MISSISSIPPI — The number of Mississippi homeowners facing foreclosure has taken a slight dip.

Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures nationwide, said that in April, foreclosure-related actions were taken against 361 properties in Mississippi. Those actions ranged from an initial notice of default to outright repossession by a lender.

Last month, 149 properties were scheduled for a foreclosure sale. Lenders took back 212.

The rate of foreclosure actions — affecting one in every 3,551 housing units — was down 2.7 percent from March and 2.2 percent from April 2010. That ranked Mississippi 45th in the nation.

RealtyTrac said that national foreclosure actions dropped 9 percent from March and 34 percent from April 2010 — mostly because of legal questions about paperwork.

April was the seventh straight month of national declines and brought foreclosure activity in the depressed U.S. housing market to a 40-month low.

“The slowdown continues to be largely the result of massive delays in processing foreclosures rather than the result of a housing recovery that is lifting people out of foreclosure,” said RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio.

Nationally, 219,258 properties received a foreclosure-related notice last month. Lenders took back 69,532 U.S. properties in April.

Nevada posted the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the 57th straight month in April, with one in every 97 housing units targeted by a foreclosure-related notice. That was followed by Arizona, California, Utah, Idaho, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Colorado and Oregon.

Source: RealtyTrac