Some good news for New Jersey's beleaguered housing market: Foreclosures went way down in 2011, dropping by about 73 percent in the state. That far outpaces the national average, which fell by only 34 percent. Overall, there were 1.89 million properties involved in foreclosure proceedings throughout the country in 2011.
That trend may not last, though. According to the the research firm RealtyTrac, the biggest reason for the slowdown is that many banks have stopped foreclosure proceedings after the robo-signing scandal erupted. They figure that repossessions will go back up by about 25 percent in 2012, and expect to see about 400,000 more foreclosures nationwide.
We have another wrinkle here in New Jersey as well: The state supreme court is hearing a case where a foreclosure has been challenged because the foreclosing lender did not identify itself. That would be a violation of the Fair Foreclosure Act. The expectation is that once the court makes a decision in that case, foreclosures will start to rise here again.
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