Phoenix area foreclosures hit 32-month low

Foreclosures across metro Phoenix plummeted to a 32-month low in November, but the decline probably is only temporary. Big banks, including one of Arizona's largest lenders, put foreclosure proceedings on hold in recent months amid nationwide questions about how they handled the documents used to take back homes. That move put the brakes on the region's ongoing wave of foreclosures. But while the pause was a welcome reprieve for many struggling homeowners, real-estate analysts expect lenders to ramp up their foreclosure activity in the next few months. Lenders usually foreclose through an auction process known as a trustee sale in Arizona. Notices of trustee sales, so-called pre-foreclosures, dropped to 5,607 last month from 6,728 a month earlier, according to real-estate data company Information Market.

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