RealtyTrac's recent Midyear 2011 Foreclosure Market Report revealed several trends in terms of foreclosure activity during the first half of 2011.

Overall, 1,170,402 U.S. properties entered the foreclosure process, which includes default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions, during the year's first six months. This total is down 25 percent from the second half of 2010 and 29 percent from 2010's first half.

During the second quarter, a reported 608,235 properties were foreclosed, which represents a decline of 11 percent from the first quarter and 32 percent from the second quarter of 2010.

"It would be nice to report that foreclosure activity is dropping as a result of improvements in the economy or the housing market," said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "Unfortunately, with unemployment rates inching back up, consumer confidence weak and home sales and prices continuing to languish, this doesn't appear to be the case."

Regionally, California had the greatest amount of foreclosure activity during the quarter with 263,500 properties entering the process. Florida and Arizona followed, placing second and third, respectively. Texas was included in the top 10, placing seventh with 55,442 foreclosures taking place.

However, with a large number of Fortune 500 companies being headquartered in the state, recovery for Dallas and Houston real estate markets, among others, could improve quickly, as more workers could flock to the regions.

Courtesy of 2M Realty News