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BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Filings for foreclosure are way down in New Jersey for a variety of reasons, but the trend is not expected to last.
Across the nation, the activity is back to pre-recession levels of 2007. Foreclosures fell by 73 percent in New Jersey, and by about a third across the U.S. in 2011. About 1.89 million properties were involved in foreclosure activity last year overall, a drop of about 34 percent from 2010.
According to an Associated Press report in the Washington Post, many banks stopped or delayed foreclosure proceedings after some lenders approved foreclosures without getting documents verified, a process called robo-signing.
Bloomberg reports that home repossessions may rise 25 percent this year from 2011 levels, according to RealtyTrac Inc. spokesman Daren Blomquist. He said around 400,000 more homes would have been repossessed last year without the delays in the process.
According to NorthJersey.com, foreclosure filings in Bergen County dropped from 4,558 to 1,200 from 2010 to 2011, and from 4,275 to 983 in Passaic County during that period.
Foreclosure filings in New Jersey are expected to increase greatly after the state Supreme Court reaches a decision in a foreclosure challenge case where the lender is being accused of not identifying itself, a violation of the Fair Foreclosure Act.
About 17,460 properties in New Jersey had foreclosure filings in 2011. The highest rate of foreclosure filings per household in the U.S. came from Nevada for the fifth year in a row, at one in 16.
