LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist says that the jump in foreclosure activity was expected. Lenders have reached a backlog of homes they would have previously begun foreclosing on last year if they hadn't been called down for cutting corners and moving foreclosures too quickly and without adequate controls.

As reported by RealtyTrac this week, foreclosure filings rose by nine percent last month from a month earlier, As a result, a substantial 205,990 total properties that became subject to default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions.

There has been a slight improvement from such figures in 2011. The figures for May are down 4 percent from a year ago. The report also noted that recent sales data suggests that not all homes with foreclosure filings will result in the bank taking the property. Bank-owned homes tend to sell for less than homes in earlier stages of foreclosure.

"Based on the rise in pre-foreclosure sales we've seen so far this year, a higher percentage of these new foreclosure starts will likely end up as short sales or auction sales to third parties rather than bank repossessions going forward," Brandon Moore, RealtyTrac's CEO, said in a statement.

A home that is in pre-foreclosure sells for 21 percent less than a non-distressed home, on average. A bank-owned home sells for 33 percent less on average.

Blomquist still reiterates that many of these houses entering the foreclosure process will end up being repossessed by the bank. The increase in foreclosure activity that is expected as banks work through their backlog could put a damper on housing prices once again, at least in some parts of the country.

"I actually think the stabilization in home prices and home sales is, in part, a result of the foreclosure inventory being artificially restricted over the past year and a half," Blomquist says.

The National Association of Realtors reported for the month of May that existing-home sales rose 3.4 percent from March to April and were up 10 percent from a year earlier.

Median home prices also were up about 10 percent in April from a year earlier.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.