WASHINGTON – Jan. 17, 2013 – Florida had the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in 2012, according to data released today by RealtyTrac. The state had one in 32 housing units with a mortgage – 3.11 percent – receiving a foreclosure filing during the year.

“2012 was the year of the judicial foreclosure, with foreclosure activity increasing from 2011 in 20 of the 26 states that primarily use the judicial process, and a judicial state – Florida – posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the first time since the housing crisis began,” says Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac.

Other states with top foreclosure rates include Nevada (2.70 percent), Arizona (2.69 percent), Georgia (2.58 percent) and Illinois (2.58 percent).

Nationwide, however, foreclosures declined 3 percent in 2012 year-to-year, but they were down 36 percent compared to 2010. In the U.S., 1.39 percent of housing units (one in every 72) had at least one foreclosure filing during the year, down from 1.45 percent of in 2011 and 2.23 percent in 2010.

Other findings:

• Foreclosure activity in 2012 increased from 2011 in 25 states, 20 of which primarily use the longer judicial foreclosure process – including New Jersey (55 percent increase), Florida (53 percent increase), Connecticut (48 percent increase), Indiana (46 percent increase), Illinois (33 percent increase) and New York (31 percent increase).

• Foreclosure activity in 2012 decreased from 2011 in 25 states, 19 of which primarily use a more streamlined non-judicial foreclosure process.

• Foreclosure activity in December dropped 10 percent from the previous month to the lowest level since April 2007, a 68-month low, and fourth quarter foreclosure activity was at the lowest quarterly level since the third quarter of 2007 despite a 9 percent quarterly increase in bank repossessions.

• The average time to complete a foreclosure nationwide in the fourth quarter increased 8 percent from the previous quarter to a record 414 days.

• Lower foreclosure inventory gave sellers the upper hand and helped median sales prices in the first 10 months of 2012 increase from the same time period in 2011 in 25 states. Median sales prices nationwide during the first 10 months of 2012 on average were 99 percent of median list prices.

• In January 2013, 10.9 million homeowners nationwide – 26 percent of all outstanding homes with a mortgage – were seriously underwater, meaning they owed at least 25 percent more on their home than what it was worth. However, that’s down from 28 percent a year earlier in January 2012.

“Although we are comfortably past the peak of the foreclosure problem nationally, 2013 is likely to be book-ended by two discrete jumps in foreclosure activity,” Blomquist says. “We expect to see continued increases in judicial foreclosure states near the beginning of the year as lenders finish catching up with the backlogs in those states, and another set of increases in some non-judicial states near the end of the year as lenders adjust to the new laws and process some deferred foreclosures in those states.”

© 2013 Florida Realtors®