NYC sees near 20% drop in foreclosures, Queens sees dramatic drop in activity

New York City saw 1,541 foreclosure filings in May, marking an 18.25 percent plummet from May 2009, according to national foreclosure research firm RealtyTrac’s monthly market report, released today.

But despite the citywide drop in foreclosure activity, only Queens and Staten Island saw year-over-year drops in foreclosures, decreasing 48.39 percent and 10.28 percent, respectively.

As The Real Deal reported yesterday, PropertyShark.com data also shows that Queens is recovering from its past foreclosure crisis.

Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

Staten Island was once again hit hardest with foreclosure filings, proportionally, according to the report. As The Real Deal previously reported, the borough also struggled in the first quarter of the year. Staten Island saw 226 foreclosure filings — one in every 793 homes — during May. Brooklyn came in a distant second, with one in every 1,546 homes receiving a foreclosure filing — a total of 626 in all.

A total of 253 Bronx households, or one in every 2,025, received a foreclosure filing, while Queens and Manhattan saw 368 and 68, respectively, or the equivalent of one in every 2,285 and one in every 12,514.

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Month-over-month, the number of foreclosures in the city dropped 2.65 drop.

All but one borough, Queens, saw its foreclosure filings climb in that period. Queens saw a dramatic 31.85 percent drop between April 2010 and May 2010, the report shows.

Nationwide, default notices were on the decline in May, the report says, although not dramatically, while the number of bank repossessions continued to climb. A reported 322,920 properties saw foreclosure filings in May, marking a less than 1 percent increase compared to May 2009, and a 3 percent month-over-month decrease.

Last month saw the smallest number of default notices filed since November 2008. A total of 96,462 properties received default notices in May, marking a 22 percent decrease from May 2009 and a 7 percent decrease from April.

Bank repossessions, meanwhile, hit a record monthly high, with 93,777 cases recorded. The figure marks a 44 percent year-over-year increase and a 1 percent month-over-month uptick.