RealtyTrac report: Foreclosure activity up 55 percent from July 2007MortgagePress.comForeclosures, RealtyTrac, U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, bank repossessions, REOs
RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties,
today released its July 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which
shows foreclosure filingsdefault notices, auction sale notices and
bank repossessionswere reported on 272,171 U.S. properties during
the month, an eight percent increase from the previous month and a
55 percent increase from July 2007. The report also shows one in
every 464 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the
month.
RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national
database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1.5
million properties from over 2,200 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 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.
"Bank repossessions, or REOs, continued to be the fastest
growing segment of foreclosure activity in July, posting a 184
percent year-over-year increasecompared to a 53 percent
year-over-year increase in default notices and an 11 percent
year-over-year increase in auction notices," said James J.
Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "The sharp rise in
REOs, combined with slow sales, has resulted in a bloated inventory
of bank-owned properties for sale. RealtyTrac now has more than
three quarters of a million properties in its active REO database,
a number that represents approximately 17 percent of the inventory
of existing homes for sale reported in June by the National
Association of Realtors."
Nevada, California, Florida post top state foreclosure
rates
Nevada continued to document the nation's highest state
foreclosure rate in July, with one in every 106 households
receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure
activity in Nevada was up 15 percent from the previous month and 97
percent from July 2007, pushing the total number of properties with
foreclosure filings to over 10,000. Bank repossessions in Nevada
were up 384 percent on a year-over-year basis, while default
notices were up 59 percent and auction notices were up 31
percent.
One in every 182 California properties received a foreclosure
filing in July, the nation's second highest state foreclosure rate,
while one in every 186 Florida properties received a foreclosure
filing, the nations third highest state foreclosure rate.
Despite increasing foreclosure activity, Arizona's foreclosure
rate dropped from the nation's third highest in June to fourth
highest in July. Foreclosure filings were reported on 13,350
Arizona properties during the month, a three percent increase from
the previous month and a 127 percent increase from July 2007. One
in every 195 Arizona properties received a foreclosure filing, a
rate that was more than twice the national average.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10
were Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Utah and Virginia.
California, Florida, Ohio report highest foreclosure
totals
Foreclosure filings were reported on 72,285 California properties
in July, the highest total among the states. The state's
foreclosure activity increased 5 percent from the previous month
and was up 85 percent from July 2007. On a year-over-year basis,
bank repossessions in California were up 427 percent, while auction
notices were up 67 percent and default notices were up 34 percent.
However, default notices declined 4 percent from the previous
month.
Florida foreclosure activity in July increased 14 percent from
the previous month and 139 percent from July 2007. The state posted
the nations second highest number of properties with filings45,884.
On a year-over-year basis, bank repossessions in Florida increased
678 percent, while auction notices were up 180 percent and default
notices were up 100 percent.
Ohio's total of 13,457 properties with foreclosure filings in
July was third highest among the states despite an increase of just
two percent from the previous month and one percent from July 2007.
On a year-over-year basis, bank repossessions in Ohio were still up
33 percent, while auction notices were down nearly 20 percent and
default notices were up nearly 8 percent. One in every 375 Ohio
households received a foreclosure filing during the month, the
nations fifth highest state foreclosure rate.
After Arizona, Michigan documented the fifth highest state total
in July11,591 properties with filingsbut the state's foreclosure
activity decreased four percent from the previous month and 17
percent from July 2007. The state's foreclosure rateone in every
389 households received a foreclosure filingranked seventh highest
among the states.
Other states with total properties with foreclosure filings
among the 10 highest were Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Illinois and New
York.
Top metro rates in California, Florida, Nevada,
Arizona
The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area registered the highest
foreclosure rate among the 230 metro areas tracked in the July
report. One in every 64 households in the metro area received a
foreclosure filing during the month more than seven times the
national average.
Three California cities followed in the metro foreclosure rate
rankings: Merced was at No. 2 with one in every 73 households
receiving a foreclosure filing; and Stockton and Modesto were in a
virtual tie, each with one in every 82 households receiving a
foreclosure filing.
With one in every 85 households receiving a foreclosure filing,
the Las Vegas metro area's foreclosure rate ranked No. 5, followed
by three more California metros: Riverside-San Bernardino,
Bakersfield and Vallejo-Fairfield.
Fort Lauderdale, Fla., documented the ninth highest metro
foreclosure rate, and the foreclosure rate in Phoenix took the No.
10 spot.
For more information, visit www.realtytrac.com.
