Dive Brief:

• The number of foreclosure filings has ticked upward every month — when compared to the same month a year ago — for the past three months, RealtyTrac reported this week.

• Default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions increased by 1% between April and May, and by 16% since this time last year, reaching a 19-month high. That news came a month after foreclosure filings rose 3% between March and April — up 9% from a year earlier.

• May’s increase was due primarily to a jump in bank repossessions, which were up 58% from a year ago, despite a 1% dip between April and May, RealtyTrac reported.

Dive Insight:

RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist called the foreclosure numbers “a classic good news-bad news scenario.” The good news: The number of homeowners starting the foreclosure process is “stabilizing at pre-housing crisis levels.” And the bad: The number who have lost their homes to foreclosure is well above that pre-crisis rate “and on the rise.”