|
One of 134 Households
Face Foreclosure in First Half of 2007 Foreclosure
Activity up Over 55 Percent with more than 573,000 properties in
some
stage of foreclosure during first six months of 2007.
IRVINE, Calif., July 30 - RealtyTrac(R) (www.RealtyTrac.com
 ), the leading online
marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Midyear 2007
U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows a total of 925,986
foreclosure filings
foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank
repossessions -- were reported on 573,397 properties nationwide during
the first six months of the year, up more than 30 percent from the
previous six-month period and up more than 55 percent from the first six
months of 2006. The report also shows a foreclosure rate of one
foreclosure filing for every 134 U.S. households for the first half of
the year. RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national
database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1 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 Journal's Real Estate Journal.
"Despite a slight drop in June, foreclosure activity shows no sign of
slowing down," noted James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of
RealtyTrac. "Based on the rate of foreclosure activity in the first half
of 2007, we could easily surpass 2 million foreclosure filings by the
end of the year, which would represent a year-over-year increase of over
65 percent."
Nevada, Colorado, California post top foreclosure rates
Nevada posted the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one
foreclosure filing for every 40 households during the first half of
2007. The state reported a total of 25,208 foreclosure filings on 14,687
properties, more than double the number of foreclosure filings reported
in the previous six-month period and nearly triple the number reported
in the first half of 2006.
Colorado reported one foreclosure filing for every 60 households during
the first half of 2007, the nation's second highest state foreclosure
rate. The state reported a total of 34,287 foreclosure filings on 19,411
properties, a 15 percent increase from the previous six-month period and
a 38 percent increase from the first six months of 2006.
With one foreclosure filing for every 69 households during the first
half of 2007, California registered the nation's third highest state
foreclosure rate. The state reported a total of 189,560 foreclosure
filings on 104,572 properties, up 122 percent from the previous
six-month period and up 232 percent from the first half of 2006.
Other states with foreclosure rates among the top 10 included Michigan,
Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, Connecticut and Indiana.
California, Florida, Texas, Ohio document largest foreclosure totals
California's foreclosure filing total and unique property count were
both highest among all the states in the first half of 2007. Florida
reported the second highest totals, with 102,213 foreclosure filings on
64,250 properties. Florida's foreclosure rate -- one foreclosure filing
for every 81 households -- ranked fifth highest among all the states.
Texas reported 69,471 foreclosure filings in the first half of 2007 --
the nation's third highest foreclosure filing total. But the state's
unique property count of 41,592 came in fourth place behind Ohio's
44,594. Ohio
reported 60,728 total foreclosure filings, the fourth most of any state.
Other states with foreclosure filing totals among the nation's 10
highest were Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey and
Arizona.
New "Unique Property" feature provides additional detail
The new "unique property" count is an addition to the RealtyTrac
U.S. Foreclosure Market Report and presents the number of unique property
addresses with some type of foreclosure action filed against them during
the six-month period. This new metric counts a property only once, even
if there were multiple foreclosure filings against the property during
the report period. RealtyTrac will issue this count four times a year,
including a mid-year and annual report.
"The addition of this metric to our foreclosure report was spurred by a
data request for unique property addresses from the Federal Reserve
Bank, which is using our data for market and risk analysis, and we
believe it will serve as a valuable complement to the total foreclosure
filing count that we have been including all along," said Rick Sharga,
RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing. "It's interesting to note that
the total
foreclosure filings and unique property counts reveal almost identical
trends on the national level: foreclosure filings are up 39 percent from
the previous six months and 56 percent from the first half of 2006;
unique
property counts are up 32 percent from the previous six months and up 58
percent from the first half of 2006."
The consistency is similar at the state level, where the same five
states have the highest numbers of households in foreclosure and
foreclosure filings, and the same six states have the highest
percentages of both foreclosure filings per household and percentage of
households in the foreclosure process.
"The bottom line," Sharga noted, "is that no matter how you count -- by
individual households or by the total number of foreclosure filings --
foreclosure activity is up significantly in 2007. We hope that by
providing both the total amount of foreclosure activity and the number
of households involved, we're providing information that legislators,
regulators, lenders, homebuyers and sellers can use to make intelligent
and informed decisions."
Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53
on Inc. magazine's 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing
private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (www.RealtyTrac.com
), is the
leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the
resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to
locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.
Are You Eligible for
Stimulus Money?
Get the newsletter
|
