Nationally, filings increased 3 percent year-over-year. Foreclosure rates in California, Arizona, and Nevada remained the highest, even though those states saw declines in filings over the year.
"We continue to see signs on a local and regional level that the frozen-up foreclosure process is beginning to thaw," said Brandon Moore, chief executive of RealtyTrac. "Foreclosure activity increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in more than 12 months in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania."
The rise in 90-day delinquencies in Pennsylvania during 2011 coincided with the end of the state's highly touted Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), which provided loans to borrowers behind on their mortgages that were repaid either when their financial crises ended or within 24 months.
In 2010, 13,654 homeowners applied for the assistance, and 2,798 were approved, said John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project.
"All of those who applied were informed of housing counseling, and many probably had their mortgage modified or were otherwise able to save their homes," Dodds said Wednesday.
Funding for HEMAP, which began in 1983, ended in August, as did the Act 91 requirement that defaulting borrowers be sent notices by lenders informing them of the program and available counseling assistance, Dodds said.
For part of 2011, he said, the federal Emergency Homeowner Loan Program, which was modeled on HEMAP, funded these emergency loans. That Housing and Urban Development-funded program, which the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency administered, ended Sept. 30, after approving 3,056 homeowners for emergency help.
"Without these programs, the increase in foreclosures would have been greater, and since Sept. 30 no direct-aid program has been available in Pennsylvania," Dodds said.
