Foreclosures Down Markedly Last Quarter

Property Shark‘s latest foreclosure report appears have a lot of good news, but the data company also cautions that the numbers don’t necessarily indicate a healthier real estate market. The report find that citywide, newly scheduled auctions were down 33 percent last quarter as compared to Q2. Staten Island was the only borough without a double-digit decline, with foreclosures there staying flat. Brooklyn tied Manhattan for the largest drop in first-time foreclosures among the boroughs, with both seeing a 45 percent decrease. The drop is even more pronounced when viewed in the context of the last couple years: There were 31 first-time foreclosures in Brooklyn last quarter, compared to 124 in the third quarter of ’09. (Click through for a graphic.) Sounds all good, right? Maybe not, according to statement from Property Shark Founder Matthew Haines that’s included in the report: “While foreclosure numbers are down, we do not think that this indicates an improving housing market. We believe the drop is due to increased legal pressure on the banks by the state and federal governments. As we enter a new recession, we expect homeowners to continue to have trouble making payments on mortgages that continue to far exceed the value of the underlying houses.”