From yesterday’s latimes.com:

Foreclosure activity in the U.S. in January declined 19% from a year earlier, according to a report by RealtyTrac of Irvine.

Despite the drop in foreclosure filings — from the default notice that begins the foreclosure process to the auction scheduling and the sale of the house — the foreclosure tracking company said in a release that foreclosures are primed to increase.

From today’s Housing Wire:

U.S. foreclosure filings edged up 3% in January as judicial foreclosure states began to see a thaw in delayed foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac said.

The Irvine,Calif.-based firm said foreclosure starts picked up for the first time since the fall 2010 robo-signing crisis in the states of Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Nationwide, the firm reported 210,941 foreclosure filings in January, which includes  default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. While that’s up 3% from the previous month, it’s still down 19% from January of last year.

By the end of January, one in every 624 housing units was in foreclosure, RealtyTrac said.