IRVINE, Calif. – Dec. 15, 2011 – RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for November 2011, which shows foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – were reported on 224,394 U.S. properties in November, a 3 percent decrease from the previous month and a 14 percent decrease from November 2010. The report also shows one in every 579 U.S. housing units with a foreclosure filing during the month.

“Despite a seasonal slowdown similar to what we’ve seen in each of the past four years, November’s numbers suggest a new set of incoming foreclosure waves, many of which may roll into the market as REOs or short sales sometime early next year,” said James Saccacio, co-founder of RealtyTrac. “Overall foreclosure activity is down 14 percent from a year ago, the smallest annual decrease over the past 12 months, and some bellwether states such as California, Arizona and Massachusetts actually posted year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in November.

“Scheduled foreclosure auctions reached a nine-month high in November, corresponding to a recent surge in default notices that began back in August,” Saccacio continued. “Many of the new defaults that started the foreclosure process over the past few months are now being scheduled for public foreclosure auction.”