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In a recent article published by the Press of Atlantic City, real estate agents in South Jersey are seeing fewer new foreclosure filings on homes, even as banks continue to shed their inventory of distressed properties a few at a time each week through county sheriff sales. Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties saw fewer new foreclosure filings in August than in July. But the number of new cases still remains higher than a year ago. Cape May County had 34 new foreclosure filings in August, compared with 45 in July, according to RealtyTrac’s U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. Atlantic County saw 196 new cases in August, down from 224 in July. This compares with 115 new filings in August 2012.

Foreclosure rates in Cumberland County increased for the month of July over the same period last year, according to CoreLogic. The rate of foreclosures per active mortgage loans was nearly 9 percent in Cumberland and Atlantic counties — or more than three times the national rate. Likewise, more people in Cumberland County are having trouble keeping up with their mortgages, according to CoreLogic. The mortgage-delinquency rate — the percentage of mortgage loans that were 90 days or more delinquent — increased slightly from 16 to 17 percent in Cumberland County from July 2013 compared to July 2012. Atlantic County’s mortgage-delinquency rate has not changed from last year at about 16 percent. Cape May County’s foreclosure rate was 4 percent in July while its mortgage-delinquency rate hovers around 7 percent, about the same as last year.

Nationwide, the number of new foreclosures is down significantly from a year ago — from 128,560 in August compared with 193,508 in August of 2012, according to RealtyTrac.