Morning Radar: Foreclosures in 2011 drop 35%

Morning Radar: Foreclosures in 2011 drop 35%

HousingWire's Morning Radar provides a look at what's trending across media outlets nationwide.

Year-end foreclosure statistics

Banks filed foreclosures on roughly 205,000 homes in December, the lowest monthly total since November 2007, according to RealtyTrac, which said the 1.8 million foreclosures for 2011 dropped nearly 35% from 2010. Media outlets around the nation are reporting the new numbers from RealtyTrac that apply to their cities and states.

Unexpected delays — including robo-signing issues that first arose in late 2010 — kept 2011 numbers lower than expected. One in 16 Nevada homes received a foreclosure filing in 2011. It's still the highest foreclosure rate in the country despite dropping 31% from the year before.

Economy weighs on voters' minds

With the South Carolina primary just around the corner, The New York Times takes a look at the state's economy. The European economy, meanwhile, "may be winning some respite from its sovereign debt crisis," according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

New York takes up forced-placed insurance

New York State's Department of Financial Services is "investigating several large banks to see whether they fraudulently steered homeowners into overpriced insurance policies," according to an article in The New York Times. Reuters said Bank of America and Citigroup are among the large banks being probed.