RealtyTrac report: Foreclosure activity increases five percent in MarchMortgagePress.comRealtyTrac, March, Foreclosure Market Report,
RealtyTrac has released its March 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market
Report, which shows foreclosure filings--default notices, auction
sale notices and bank repossessions--were reported on 234,685
properties nationwide during the month, a five percent increase
from the previous month and a 57 percent increase from March 2007.
The report also shows one in every 538 U.S. households received a
foreclosure filing during the month.
RealtyTrac publishes a national database of foreclosure and
bank-owned properties, with more than one million properties from
nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure
data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall
Street Journals Real Estate Journal.
The March numbers show that overall foreclosure activity so far
this year continues to run nearly 60 percent above the levels we
saw last year, said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of
RealtyTrac. On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up
nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129
percent, but auction notices were up only 32 percent, indicating
that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding
their properties back to the foreclosing lender. This
deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take
possession of a property without putting it up for public
foreclosure auction.
Nevada, California, Florida post top state foreclosure
rates
One in every 139 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing
during March, 3.9 times the national average and the highest state
foreclosure rate for the 15th consecutive month. Foreclosure
filings were reported on a total of 7,659 properties during the
month, up 24 percent from the previous month and up nearly 62
percent from March 2007.
Foreclosure rates in California and Florida ranked second and
third highest respectively among the states for the fourth straight
month. One in every 204 California households received a
foreclosure filing in March 2.6 times the national average--and one
in every 282 Florida households received a foreclosure filing
during the month--1.9 times the national average.
Despite a nearly five percent monthly dip in foreclosure
activity, Arizona posted the nations fourth highest state
foreclosure rate for the third straight month, with one in every
283 households receiving a foreclosure filing in March. Foreclosure
filings were reported on 9,199 properties during the month, up
nearly 106 percent from March 2007.
Colorado foreclosure activity decreased 8 percent from the
previous month and 1 percent from March 2007, but the states
foreclosure rate continued to rank fifth highest among the states.
Foreclosure filings were reported on 6,180 Colorado properties
during the month one in every 339 total households.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10
were Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland.
California, Florida, Ohio report highest foreclosure
totals
Foreclosure filings were reported on 64,711 California properties
in March, the most of any state for the 15th consecutive month.
California foreclosure activity increased nearly 21 percent from
the previous month and almost 106 percent from March 2007.
Florida posted the nations second highest total, with
foreclosure filings reported on 30,254 properties in March. The
states foreclosure activity decreased nearly seven percent from the
previous month but was still up almost 112 percent from March
2007.
Ohio and Georgia both registered month-to-month and
year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, and foreclosure
filings were reported on more than 11,000 properties in both
states. Ohios total of 11,273 was the nations third highest, and
one in every 448 Ohio households received a foreclosure filing
during the month--ranking its foreclosure rate number seven among
the states. Georgias total of 11,047 was the nations fourth
highest, and one in every 351 Georgia households received a
foreclosure filing during the month--ranking its foreclosure rate
number six among the states.
Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 10,700 Texas
properties in March, a nearly 13 percent decrease from the previous
month and a 16 percent decrease from March 2007, and the states
total dropped to fifth highest among the states.
Other states in the top 10 for total properties with filings
were Michigan, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Colorado.
Report methodology
The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a
count of the total number of properties with at least one
foreclosure filing reported during the month broken out by type of
filing at the state and national level. Data is also available at
the individual county level. RealtyTracs report incorporates
documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default Notice
of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction Notice of Trustee
Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate
Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and
repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is
filed against a property during the month which is extremely rare
only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report
also checks if the same type of document was filed against a
property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing
occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state
the property is in, the report does not count the property in the
current month.
For more information, visit www.realtytrac.com or visit www.ForeclosurePulse.com.
