(RTTNews) - Foreclosures dropped 10 percent in January, although it was still up 18 percent from the same month in 2008, data from RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report revealed Thursday.

The January drop comes amid efforts from authorities and lenders to stem the tide of foreclosure. The actions include a moratorium from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on all foreclosed sales, as well as moves by individual states to freeze foreclosure activity.

The drop is unusual for January, as the first month of the year has seen rising foreclosures since 2006. However, while the dip is positive news in the short term, RealtyTrac predicts that it is merely a brief calm in the foreclosure storm, with foreclosure activity likely to pick up once the moratoriums are inevitably lifted.

“The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers - particularly the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on all foreclosure sales that was extended through the end of January along with Florida’s voluntary 45-day freeze on all new foreclosure actions and scheduling of foreclosure sales that was announced at the beginning of December,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

“January REOs, which represent completed foreclosure sales to the foreclosing lender, were down 15 percent nationwide from the previous month,” he continued, explaining how government and state level action could temporarily drop the foreclosure rate. “And in Florida overall foreclosure activity was down 20 percent from the previous month.”

Throughout the country, over 274,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in January. Of those, around 67,000 were repossessed by lenders.

In Thrsday’s report, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Florida saw the nation’s highest foreclosure rates.

Nevada saw the top rate for the 25th consecutive month, and one out of every 76 homes in the state received a foreclosure filing last month. In California, which had the second highest rate, one out of every 173 received a filing.

Rounding out the top 10 were Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Idaho and Ohio.

Many lawmakers have urged the government to do more to stem the foreclosure tide, calling for use for some of the financial relief funds to help out at-risk home borrowers.

Last year, when the government set up its $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, many members of Congress insisted that one of the goals of the bailout fund should be to help ease foreclosure pressure. These lawmakers have been disappointed by the TARP’s application so far, as the first half of the money was largely used to buy equity stakes in banks, in an attempt to prop up their capital positions.

These banks have come under intense criticism for not using enough of these capital injections to lend out to consumers and businesses. The heads of many of the country’s top financial institutions faced a grilling from Congress on Tuesday, with lawmakers accusing the executives of giving out outsized bonuses and engaging in frivolous spending, even as big bets their companies had taken on mortgage-related assets were going bad, pushing the financial system to the verge of collapse.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Releases, USA.

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