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Irvine, CA, United States (4E) – The number of foreclosure filings nationwide dropped in April to its lowest level since July 2007, although foreclosure activity actually increased in some areas of the country.

RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its April report on foreclosure filings on Thursday. The report showed shows that foreclosure filings, consisting of default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, were reported on 188,780 properties.

Foreclosure activity decreased 5 percent in April, compared with March. It was down by 14 percent compared to April 2011.

In addition, repossessions by banks dropped significantly to 51,415 repossessions last month, down 26 percent compared to a year ago. That number was also about 50 percent of the 102,000 monthly repossessions at the peak of repossession in September 2010.

However, one in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month, RealtyTrac said.

“Rising foreclosure activity in many state and local markets in April was masked at the national level by sizable decreases in hard-hit foreclosure states like California, Arizona and Nevada,” said Brandon Moore, CEO of RealtyTrac. “Those three states, and several other non-judicial foreclosure states like them, more efficiently processed foreclosures last year, resulting in fewer catch-up foreclosures this year.

“In addition, more distressed loans are being diverted into short sales rather than becoming completed foreclosures,” Moore continued. “Our preliminary first quarter sales data shows that pre-foreclosure sales — typically short sales — are on pace to outnumber sales of bank-owned properties during the quarter in California, Arizona and 10 other states.”

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