Foreclosures Fall 9% Nationwide During April

/PRNewswire/ -- Foreclosure Deals, a leader in providing listings of foreclosed homes for sale nationwide, reported today that foreclosure filings in April fell 9% from the previous month, and over 2% from April of 2009. The company also revealed that default notices, which mark the beginning of a new foreclosure, were down 12% from March and over 27% from the previous year, while bank repossessions (also known as REOs) of existing foreclosures hit a record high. These facts lead experts to believe the foreclosure market could be leveling off.

"Fewer foreclosure homes coming onto the market and more foreclosures being resolved by bank repossession is certainly a sign that the market is contracting," remarked James Foxx, a business analyst with Foreclosure Deals. "We have yet to see how this trend will play out, but if it continues it will lead to fast-growing foreclosure property values for foreclosure investors who act now."

The statistics show that the highest volume of foreclosures is concentrated in 5 states: Florida, California, Michigan, Illinois and Nevada. These states account for just over 50% of the national total. The Top 5 states for foreclosure rates remain Nevada, Arizona, Florida, California and relative newcomer Utah. Michigan saw the highest increase in foreclosures in the past year at 77%, while California saw the biggest drop, down 29%. California also saw the biggest monthly drop at 27%, with Georgia close behind, falling 21%.

Reno, NV was the only city among the Top 10 cities for foreclosure rates that saw an increase in foreclosures from April of 2009, another good sign for the national market. Other cities like Las Vegas, NV; Modesto, CA; Bakersfield, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Cape Coral, FL and Fort Myers, FL, all saw their foreclosure rates decrease over the past year.

Other states in the Top 10 for foreclosure rates were Idaho, at 1 in 226 homes; Georgia at 1 in 288 homes; and Colorado, at 1 in 337 homes. Despite being among the Top 10 states for foreclosure volume, Texas, Ohio and Virginia were not among the Top 10 states for rates of foreclosure.

Foreclosure Deals specializes in providing the most recent foreclosure news and information, as well as foreclosure listings from across the nation. Visit www.ForeclosureDeals.com to learn more.

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Foreclosure Activity Decreases 10 Percent in January According to RealtyTrac(R) U.S. Foreclosure Market Report

/PRNewswire/ -- RealtyTrac(R) (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its January 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report(TM), which shows foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- were reported on 274,399 U.S. properties during the month, a 10 percent decrease from the previous month but still up 18 percent from January 2008. The report also shows one in every 466 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in January.

"The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers -- particularly the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on all foreclosure sales that was extended through the end of January along with Florida's voluntary 45-day freeze on all new foreclosure actions and scheduling of foreclosure sales that was announced at the beginning of December," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "January REOs, which represent completed foreclosure sales to the foreclosing lender, were down 15 percent nationwide from the previous month. And in Florida overall foreclosure activity was down 20 percent from the previous month."

Nevada, California, Arizona post top state foreclosure rates

Nevada foreclosure activity in January decreased 4 percent from the previous month, but the state continued to register the nation's No. 1 foreclosure rate, with one in every 76 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 14,444 Nevada properties in January, up 137 percent from January 2008.

California posted the nation's second highest state foreclosure rate in January, with one in every 173 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, and Arizona posted the nation's third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 182 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

Despite a 20 percent month-over-month drop in foreclosure activity, Florida posted the nation's fourth highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 214 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation's 10 highest were Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Idaho and Ohio.

California, Florida, Arizona post highest foreclosure totals

Foreclosure filings were reported on 76,761 California properties, the most of any state despite a 14 percent decrease from the previous month. The state's foreclosure activity in January still increased 34 percent from January 2008.

Florida's 40,770 properties receiving foreclosure filings in January was the second highest total of any state, and Arizona's 14,674 properties receiving foreclosure filings was the third highest total of any state

Illinois foreclosure activity in January increased 16 percent from the previous month, giving the state 14,447 properties with foreclosure filings -- the fourth highest state total. One in every 363 Illinois properties received a foreclosure filing in January, the nation's sixth highest foreclosure rate.

Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Virginia also reported foreclosure totals that were among the nation's 10 highest.

California, Florida, Nevada cities post top metro foreclosure rates

California cities accounted for six of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates in January among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more. Merced, Calif., posted the top metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 59 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month -- nearly eight times the national average.

Other California metro areas with foreclosure rates among the top 10: Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 4 with one in every 81 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Modesto at No. 5 with one in every 84 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Stockton at No. 6 with one in every 86 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7 with one in every 100 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; and Bakersfield at No. 8 with one in every 120 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Two Florida cities posted foreclosure rates among the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 3 with one in every 80 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing and Port St. Lucie at No. 9 with one in every 123 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

With one in every 63 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, the Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., metro area posted the second highest metro foreclosure rate in January. The Reno-Sparks, Nev., metro area posted the 10th highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 128 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Reno-Sparks was the only metro area in the top 10 that did not experience a month-over-month decrease in foreclosure activity, but all of the top 10 saw year-over-year increases in activity.

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Foreclosure Activity Increases 7% in May

GHRE Note: Georgia appears to have made the top 10 in this list.

RISMEDIA, -RealtyTrac®, a leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, released its May 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report(TM), which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 261,255 properties during the month, a 7% increase from the previous month and a 48% increase from May 2007. The report also shows one in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month, the highest monthly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing the report in January 2005.

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 Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“May was the third straight month where we’ve seen a month-to-month increase in foreclosure activity and the 29th straight month we’ve seen a year-over-year increase,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The nationwide rate of increase for default notices and foreclosure auction notices slowed in May, with default notices up just 1% from the previous month and auction notices down 3% from the previous month. However, bank repossessions continued to surge in May — posting a double-digit percentage increase from the previous month and more than twice the number reported in May 2007 — which pushed the total inventory of bank-owned REOs in our database to more than 700,000.”

Nevada, California, Arizona post top state foreclosure rates

With one in every 118 households receiving a foreclosure filing in May, Nevada posted the highest state foreclosure rate for the 17th consecutive month. Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 9,009 Nevada properties, an increase of nearly 24% from the previous month and a 72% increase from May 2007.

California foreclosure activity in May increased 11% from the previous month and 81% from May 2007, helping the state continue to register the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate. One in every 183 California households received a foreclosure filing during the month, a rate that was 2.6 times the national average.

Arizona’s May foreclosure rate — one in every 201 households received a foreclosure filing during the month — ranked third highest among the states for the second month in a row. Arizona foreclosure activity increased nearly 12% from the previous month and almost 119% from May 2007.

One in every 228 Florida households received a foreclosure filing in May, giving it the fourth highest foreclosure rate among the states. Michigan foreclosure activity in May increased nearly 25% from the previous month, helping the state’s foreclosure rate to jump to fifth highest among the states after ranking No. 9 the previous month. One in every 353 Michigan households received a foreclosure filing in May.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Georgia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Ohio and New Jersey.

California, Florida, Arizona report highest foreclosure totals

Foreclosure filings were reported on 71,930 California properties, 37,364 Florida properties and 12,959 Arizona properties, the three highest state totals in May. Michigan was not far behind Arizona, with 12,792 properties receiving foreclosure filings during the month.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 12,295 Ohio properties in May, the fifth highest state total despite a nearly 7% decrease from May 2007. With one in every 410 households receiving a foreclosure filing, Ohio’s foreclosure rate ranked No. 9 among the states and was above the national average.

Georgia foreclosure activity increased 11% from the previous month and 23% from May 2007, giving the state 10,241 properties with foreclosure filing in May — the nation’s sixth highest total. And with one in every 378 Georgia households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, the state’s foreclosure rate also ranked No. 6 among the states.

Other states in the top 10 for total properties with filings were Texas, Illinois, Nevada and New Jersey.

California and Florida cities account for 9 of top 10 metro rates

For the second month in a row, California and Florida cities accounted for nine out of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates among the 230 metropolitan areas tracked in the report. Seven California cities were in the top 10, led by Stockton in the top spot. One in every 75 Stockton area households received a foreclosure filing in May — more than six times the national average. Other California cities in the top 10 were Merced at No. 3, Modesto at No. 4, Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 5, Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7, Bakersfield at No. 8, and Sacramento at No. 9.

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area in Florida registered the second highest metro foreclosure rate in May, with one in every 79 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. The other Florida metro area in the top 10 was Port Lucie-Fort Pierce at No. 10.

Las Vegas was the only city outside of California and Florida with a foreclosure rate ranking among the top 10. One in every 96 Las Vegas households received a foreclosure filing in May, more than five times the national average and No. 6 among the metro areas.

Metro areas with foreclosure rates among the top 20 included Phoenix at No. 12, Detroit at No. 14, San Diego at No. 17 and Miami at No. 19.