According to a recent report, home prices across the country edged lower in October, while the number of foreclosures filed in December dropped to the lowest level recorded since 2007.
The most recent Home Price Index from Lender Processing Services showed that home prices in October rose by 0.8 percent on a month-over-month basis. In addition, the report also found that based on early indicators, November home prices could report losses of up to 0.5 percent nationally.
Meanwhile, after examining roughly 13,500 local housing markets across the country, LPS reports that home prices appreciated in just 6 percent of them. In addition, the national average home sale price continued to fall by a yearly rate of 2.7 percent – the average price of a home is now averaging $200,000.
"As for ZIP code prices, changes during October were largely consistent among metropolitan statistical areas," said the report. "Of the 409 MSAs the LPS HPI covers, average prices for all of the MSAs in 43 states declined."
Regionally, the report found that Phoenix was the best performing city in terms of price growth in October, while Miami, Detroit and Fort Lauderdale also received recognition for their improving housing markets.
In contrast, the areas that reported the largest depreciation in home prices were the Georgia cities of Columbus, Macon, Gainesville and August. In these metropolitan areas, home prices dropped by at least 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, during the past five years, American homeowners have seen their value of their investments fall by nearly 30.1 percent. The nation's housing market is now worth a cumulative $7.5 trillion – significantly less than at the it's peak when the market was worth $10.6 trillion.
However, as home prices continued to edge lower by the end of 2011, there were some significantly positive reports that came out of the year.
For instance, RealtyTrac recently reported that lenders filed for foreclosure on only 205,000 properties in December. Despite the elevated rate, this is the lowest monthly total recorded since November 2007.
Additionally, on an annual basis the report indicated there was a total of 1.8 million foreclosure filings throughout the course of 2011 – a 35 percent decrease from 2010.
"Foreclosures were in full delay mode in 2011, resulting in a dramatic drop in foreclosure activity for the year," said RealtyTrac CEO Brandon Moore "The lack of clarity regarding many of the documentation and legal issues plaguing the foreclosure industry means that we are continuing to see a highly dysfunctional foreclosure process that is inefficiently dealing with delinquent mortgages – particularly in states with a judicial foreclosure process."
Meanwhile, the number of days it took to complete a foreclosure filing also increased to an average of 348 days during the fourth quarter. However, despite the slowed pace, RealtyTrac expects there to be more foreclosure filings in 2012 as lenders revamp the process.
"There were strong signs in the second half of 2011 that lenders are finally beginning to push through some of the delayed foreclosures in select local markets," said Moore. "We expect that trend to continue this year, boosting foreclosure activity for 2012 higher than it was in 2011, though still below the peak of 2010."
On a regional, level, Nevada, Arizona and California continued to lead the nation by posting the highest foreclosure rates. The three states have remained close to the top of the list since the housing bubble burst in 2006.