Foreclosure Civil Filings for March 2013
Number Latest Month 592 Percent Change from previous month 17.9% Percent Change from 1 year ago -19.8% Percent Change from 5 years ago 158.3%
Table 1: Foreclosure Civil FilingsThe latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2013 the government reported 592 new foreclosure civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 17.9% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 502.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings for foreclosure-related suits are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When monthly 2013 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-19.8%). Civil filings for March 2013 are higher than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are up 158.3% from levels reported in March 2008.
The long term trend in foreclosure civil filings for these matters going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of foreclosure civil filings of this type recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.
Jurisdiction
Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the federal district courts have jurisdiction to hear cases falling under any one of several categories. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters through March 2013 was under the classification "Diversity", accounting for 52.9% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 3, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Federal Question" (16.0%) , "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (11.8%), "U.S. Government Defendant" (1.5%).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Relative to population, the volume of civil matters of this type filed in federal district courts during March 2013 was 1.9 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 2.5. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of foreclosure civil filings in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago R. I. 34.2 36 1 1 - Ill, N 11.2 105 2 4 31 Ga, N 8.5 54 3 3 6 Ken, W 6.5 14 4 60 3 Vermont 6.4 4 5 18 4 Nevada 6.1 16 6 2 16 Cal, S 5.3 17 7 21 24 Kansas 5.0 14 8 28 21 Penn, M 4.2 13 9 49 2 Nebraska 3.9 7 10 53 7
Table 2: Top 10 districts (per one million people)
The District of Rhode Island—with 34.2 civil filings as compared with 1.9 civil filings per one million people in the United States—was the most active through March 2013. The District of Rhode Island was ranked 1st a year ago.
The Northern District of Illinois ranked 2nd. The Northern District of Illinois was ranked 4th a year ago.
The Northern District of Georgia now ranks 3rd. The Northern District of Georgia was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was ranked 6th five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Vermont, Southern District of California (San Diego), Kansas, Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton), Nebraska and Western District of Kentucky (Louisville), now ranked 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 4th. These districts ranked 18th, 21st, 28th, 49th, 53rd and 60th one year ago and 4th, 24th, 21st, 2nd, 7th and 3rd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of foreclosure civil filings compared to one year ago—1300.0 percent—was Western District of Kentucky. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth—2507.8 percent—was Northern District of Illinois .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of foreclosure civil filings—54.3 percent—was Nevada. But over the past five years, Middle District of Pennsylvania showed the largest drop—38.3 percent.
Each month, TRAC offers a free report focused on one area of civil litigation in the U.S. district courts. In addition, subscribers to the TRACFed data service can generate custom reports by district, office, nature of suit or federal jurisdiction via the TRAC Data Interpreter.
Report Generated: April 25, 2013
