Foreclosure filings in the U.S. plunged last month to the lowest level in almost eight years as investor purchases and an improving economy brought the end of the housing crisis within sight.

Default, auction and repossession notices in November were sent to 113,454 properties, a 15 percent drop from October and the biggest monthly decline in almost three years, Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac said today in a report. The surging wave of defaults that led to 7.7 million homes seized by banks or sold in the foreclosure process since October 2006 is coming to a close, according to the data firm.

“In another year, it will all be done,” Kenneth Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, said in a telephone interview.

Housing prices are rebounding nationwide, buoyed by investors such as New York-based Blackstone Group LP, which has acquired thousands of foreclosed homes at discounts before renovating and renting them. The S&P/Case-Shiller national home- price index rose 13 percent in September from a year earlier, with all 20 cities in the measure showing gains.

“There is a correlation between institutions buying up property and recovery in the biggest metro areas,” Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in an interview. “Investors are playing a huge role.”

Foreclosures Plummet

RealtyTrac counts five types of filings. The most common are notices of default, scheduled auction and repossession. Foreclosure filings across the country last month were the lowest since December 2005, and decreased in 17 of the 20 largest cities from November 2012, according to the company. Only three areas went against the trend. Filings increased 46 percent in the Baltimore region, 34 percent in Philadelphia and 5.8 percent in Washington D.C.

Foreclosure starts fell 32 percent from a year earlier to 52,826, also the lowest in almost eight years. The number of homes that got an initial notice declined in 35 states. Fifteen states went the other way, led by Pennsylvania, which had an increase in starts of 233 percent; Delaware up 104 percent and Maryland, up 74 percent, RealtyTrac said.

Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Washington D.C. have court oversight of repossessions, which tends to slow the process of distressed homes coming to market and a price recovery, Rosen said.

Bank seizures dropped 48 percent from a year earlier to 30,461, the lowest since July 2007. Only five states showed increases in November, with advances of 179 percent in Delaware; 41 percent in Maryland; 9 percent in Connecticut; 6 percent in Maine and 2 percent in Iowa.

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