Jan. foreclosures reflect more reposessions, auctions

Foreclosure filings rose in Hampton Roads in January as banks picked up the pace of home repossessions and auctions, according to a report to be released today.

Lenders issued 826 foreclosure-related notices last month, up 1.7 percent from the 812 issued in December and up 9.4 percent from the 755 reported in January 2011, according to RealtyTrac, a foreclosure-monitoring service based in Irvine, Calif.

Foreclosures in Hampton Roads have been trending downward for most of the past year, a sign that the problem might be easing. But that trend was reversed last month, which was the first time since July that the number of foreclosures in the region exceeded year-earlier levels.

Notices of bank repossessions and foreclosure auctions rose in every city in the region last month except for Suffolk and Chesapeake. The highest number of total notices was in Virginia Beach, while foreclosures were most prevalent in Portsmouth.

"We continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw," Brandon Moore, RealtyTrac's CEO, said in a news release.

Moore said he expects foreclosures to rise in the coming months as a result of the massive settlement between five of the country's largest mortgage servicers and 49 states. He said that agreement paves the way for a clearing of the backlog of delinquent homes.

Nationwide, foreclosure activity rose last month as 210,941 properties received notices, up 3 percent from December but down 19 percent from a year earlier.

The national data include notices of default, the first stage of foreclosure after a homeowner misses mortgage payments.

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