Foreclosure notices in metro Atlanta counties dropped in April to 7,046, the lowest number in more than three years.
"It's the smallest number since December of 2008," said Barry Bramlett, the president of Kennesaw-based Equity Depot, which compiles the monthly count.
Bramlett and others are cautious about reading too much into the dip. The number of notices has trended down slowly from the peak in 2010 -- the top was 13,130 notices in August of that year -- but the housing market faces continuing pressures, such as a move by banks to sell more homes in short sales rather than proceeding to foreclosures.
A short sale is when a home owner sells a house for less than the outstanding mortgage, with the bank agreeing to take a loss.
Bramlett said numbers may be declining as lenders try to work through settlements.
"I know overall default rates are not down, but that’s not reflected in the foreclosure numbers. There is a school of thought that another huge wave will occur at some point but I’m sure that depends on many factors we don’t know."
Foreclosure notices do not necessarily end in repossessions. They are an initial legal step in the process, but lenders may fail to proceed or work with borrowers to find a settlement.
Bill Adams, whose Adams Realtors specializes in in-town Atlanta, said he sees some hopeful signs, but that it's too soon to call it a turnaround.
"We are getting more calls from developers asking about property in specific corridors," Adams said.
But the inventory of foreclosed homes on the market and those somewhere in the process still casts a big shadow. A couple of foreclosures in an otherwise healthy neighborhood can depress average sales and asking prices. And investors are still bargain shopping, picking out homes at a quarter of the price they were selling for 10 years ago and turning them into rentals.
Steve Palm of SmartNumbers, another real estate analysis firm, said, "I think there are more positive trends now for housing than negative trends. Contracts are picking up, but prices are not coming up because of foreclosures. Yeah, foreclosures are down, but there are still a bunch of them."
Palm believes numbers for new construction will trend upward this year.
The recession put many of Atlanta's home builders out of business. Demand for new construction dropped dramatically, but Palm said he thinks demand will pick back up this year.
The market seems to be taking at least a breather, he said, but there is still uncertainty, including the presidential election, that needs to be settled before a return to normalcy.
Foreclosures in nine metro Atlanta counties
County Jan. ‘12 Ap. ‘12
Cherokee 403 280
Clayton 840 587
Cobb 1,059 809
DeKalb 1,483 1,073
Fayette 155 113
Forsyth 257 175
Fulton 1,754 1,274
Gwinnett 1,868 1,531
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