NEW YORK - January 3, 2011 - Over the holidays, many lenders put foreclosures on hold. But that temporary freeze is over now. Industry watchers are expecting thousands of foreclosed properties to hit the market in the weeks and months ahead.

Home foreclosure sales slowed down at the end of 2010 for two reasons: the regular holiday foreclosure freezes, and the remnants of the so-called robo-signing scandal.

In the fall, many lenders put evictions on hold while they reviewed their foreclosure procedures. Rick Sharga of RealtyTrac says that's behind us now - and the pace of foreclosures is about to pick up.

"I'd be really, really surprised if we didn't see probably a record in the first quarter of this year," he says.
Sharga expects banks to repossess close to 100,000 homes in January alone.

"We always have a seasonal uptick in the first quarter," he says, "and I think it will be accelerated because of delays that the servicers will be making up for in the first couple months."