Home foreclosure activity climbs in Kansas and Missouri

Home foreclosures in Kansas and Missouri climbed sharply in the first quarter, probably reflecting the lingering effects of the housing crisis during the recession.

The number of properties facing foreclosure actions — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were up 38.3 percent in Kansas through March compared with a year earlier, housing research firm RealtyTrac reported Thursday. There were 1,683 homes in trouble at the end of the quarter.

In Missouri, 4,467 properties faced foreclosure actions at the end of the quarter, up 37 percent from the same quarter in 2014, RealtyTrac said.

In addition, bank repossessions in Missouri were 34 percent higher in the quarter from a year earlier, which was third highest in the country.

The results in the two states ran counter to the national trend, where foreclosure filings were down 8 percent from the first quarter of 2014, RealtyTrac said.

“Some of the most stubborn foreclosure cases are finally being flushed out of the foreclosure pipeline,” said Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac. “We would expect to see more noise in the numbers over the next few months as national foreclosure activity makes its way back to more stable patterns by the end of this year.”

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 7:01 PM.