From the WSJ:

US Foreclosure Filings Up 19% In Oct, But Positives Seen

The number of U.S. properties for which a foreclosure filing was received grew 19% in October from a year earlier, but declined for the third month sequentially, an indication the foreclosure tide may be turning.

Foreclosure filings - default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - were reported on 332,292 properties for the month, down 3.3% from September and resulting in one of every 385 U.S. housing units receiving one.

The troubles in the residential sector are expected to continue throughout 2009, and not surprisingly, much of the pain is coming from former bubble markets that are now dominating RealtyTrac’s report.

From CNBC:

Foreclosures Fall Again But Improvement Likely Fleeting

Foreclosure rates fell for the third consecutive month in October, but remained sharply higher than a year ago, according to a new report, with analysts cautioning that the improvement was at best temporary.

“It’s good to see that foreclosures have slowed down marginally, but we don’t really think it’s a trend,” said Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at foreclosure tracking Web site RealtyTrac, which released the report.

Legislation in some states has slowed foreclosures, says Sharga, but the impact will be temporary and won’t ultimately prevent most of them. In Nevada, for example, foreclosures dropped 26 percent from the previous month because of new legislation requiring mediation before initiating foreclosure proceedings.

RealtyTrac predicts that 3.2 to 3.4 million properties will go into foreclosure in 2009, up from 2.3 million in 2008.

From Bloomberg:

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Surpass 300,000 for 8th Straight Month

U.S. foreclosure filings surpassed 300,000 for an eighth straight month as unemployment made it tougher for homeowners to pay their bills, RealtyTrac Inc. said.

A total of 332,292 properties received a default or auction notice or were seized by banks in October, up 19 percent from a year earlier, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said today. One in every 385 households received a filing. The tally fell 3 percent from September, the third consecutive monthly decline.

“The foreclosure problem is still with us and will keep prices down,” Stephen Miller, chairman of the economics department at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, said in an interview. “The real issue is we don’t know what inventory banks are holding that they have yet to put on the market.”

Distressed real estate transactions accounted for 30 percent of all home sales in the third quarter as the median price fell 11 percent from a year earlier to $177,900, according to the National Association of Realtors. U.S. unemployment surged to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October as payrolls fell by 190,000 workers, the Labor Department said last week.

“The fundamental forces driving foreclosure activity in this housing downturn — high-risk mortgages, negative equity, and unemployment — continue to loom over any nascent recovery,” James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in the statement. “We continue to see foreclosure activity levels that are substantially higher than a year ago in most states.”

Filings fell 12 percent from a year earlier in New Jersey, which had the 13th highest rate. They dropped 26 percent to 2,306 in Connecticut, and rose 28 percent to 4,797 in New York.

From CNN/Money:

Foreclosures: ‘Tide may be turning’

Could the foreclosure plague be ending?

Foreclosure filings were down 3% in October, the third consecutive month-over-month dip, according to RealtyTrac, the online seller of foreclosed homes.

To be sure, foreclosure rates are still elevated from a year ago: They’re up 18% compared with October 2008. But the month-over-month decrease followed a 4% drop in filings during September and a 1% fall in August.

“Three consecutive monthly declines is unprecedented for our report, and, on first blush, an indication that the foreclosure tide may be turning,” said James Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s CEO, in a prepared statement.

He cautioned, however, that three consecutive singles does not constitute a hitting streak. So there still may be dark days ahead.