Foreclosures Up 14% Since Last Quarter, RealtyTrac Says

RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure property, released their report for the second quarter of 2008, and not surprisingly, the news is grim. According to their data, there were foreclosure filings on more than 739,000 American properties in the three-month period ending on June 30th, which represents in increase of almost 14 % from the first quarter of the year, and a truly frightening 121 percent increase over the same period in 2007. In simpler numbers, this means that one in every 171 U.S. homes received a foreclosure notice during the quarter.

James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac�s CEO explains the reality of the situation, saying, “Although much of the fallout from foreclosures is being driven by rampant activity in a few states, such as Nevada, California, Florida, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan, most areas of the country are seeing at least some increase in foreclosure activity.” He went on to state, “Forty-eight of 50 states and 95 out of the nation�s 100 largest metro areas experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in the second quarter.”

According to Mr. Saccacio, 30 percent of all this foreclosure activity came from bank repossessions and REOs, (an increase of 6% over last quarter�s 24%) which he says is a sign of improvement. “This shift in the distribution of activity indicates that there is a progression toward purging the problem loans out of the system � at which point the housing market can regain some sense of normalcy,” he said, though he also pointed out that another surge in loan defaults could change that.

RealtyTrac, which is the largest marketplace of its kind, also publishes the nation�s most comprehensive database of bank-owned properties and those in foreclosure, pulling data from more than 2,200 counties across the country. They also provide their data to the Wall Street Journal�s Real Estate Journal, as well as both MSN and Yahoo! Real Estate.