Foreclosure activity falls in Hampton Roads

Foreclosure activity fell in Hampton Roads last month despite jumping across the country, according to a report to be released today.

There were 1,044 foreclosure-related notices in the region in August, down nearly 15 percent from July and down 13 percent from the level a year ago, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure-monitoring service based in Irvine, Calif.

Compared with the year-earlier period, the number of foreclosures in Hampton Roads has been trending downward this year. Some real estate experts attribute the decline to processing delays at mortgage servicing companies and banks, while others attribute it to a stabilizing housing market.

With the exception of July, the number of foreclosures in the region has been below year-earlier levels since December.

"The servicers seem to be slowing down a little bit in their processing," said John Allen, vice president for housing and financial counseling at The Up Center in Norfolk. "They don't seem to be as aggressive. People are living in their homes longer after the foreclosure process begins."

The total notices of bank repossessions and foreclosure auctions fell in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk, while rising in Newport News, Hampton and Virginia Beach, according to the report. Foreclosures were most widespread last month in Portsmouth.

Nationwide, foreclosure activity rose as 228,098 properties received foreclosure notices, up 7 percent from July but down nearly 33 percent from a year earlier. The national data include notices of default, the first stage of the foreclosure process after a homeowner has missed mortgage payments.

James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's CEO, said in a news release that the national increase could signal lenders are pushing through some of the backlog of delinquent loans.

"It also foreshadows more bank repossessions in the coming months as these new foreclosures make their way through the process," he said.

Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com