Report: Foreclosures increase at triple-digit rate in 11 states

centralvalleybusinesstimes ^ | September 10 2007 | central valley business times, california

[freedomdefender]

The nation’s foreclosure abyss has widened with 11 states seeing triple-digit increases in August compared to a year earlier, says Foreclosures.com, a Fair Oaks-based foreclosure information service.

Through August, 355,624 homes have been taken back by their lenders following foreclosure, according to analysis of REO filings by the company. An REO (real-estate owned) filing is the final step in the foreclosure process and occurs when the bank or lender files notice that it has reclaimed a property for nonpayment of debt.

Eleven states have recorded triple-digit increases in REO filings so far this year compared to the same period last year, according to Foreclosures.com’s report Monday.

Among REO filings in August, states with triple-digit gains year over year are: California (with filings up 471 percent), Arizona (up 217 percent), Nevada (up 192 percent), New Mexico (up 157 percent), Florida (up 141 percent), Hawaii (up 138 percent), New Hampshire (up 119 percent), and Minnesota (up 112 percent).

On a per capita basis, states with the most people losing their home this year include: Louisiana (14.7 homeowners out of every 1,000 households in the state), Michigan (11.1 per 1,000), Nevada (11 per 1,000), Georgia (9.9 of every 1,000), Colorado (9.8 per 1,000), Indiana (8.8 per 1,000), Ohio (7.6 per 1,000), and Missouri (7.6 per 1,000).

Costilla County, Colo., leads the nation in REO filings per capita so far this year with 256.2 of every 1,000 households lost to foreclosure. But in a bit of irony, that’s actually down more than 33 percent from the same period last year.

Pre-foreclosure filings — including notices of default and notices of foreclosure auction — continue to increase, the company says. “If the current trend continues, the number of homeowners in default on their mortgages in the United States since the beginning of the year could top 1 million by the end of October,” Foreclosures.com says.

So far this year, 731,244 pre-foreclosures have been filed nationwide, it says. That translates to nearly 10 out of every 1,000 households in trouble financially with their mortgages.

States with the most pre-foreclosure filings per capita year to date include: Nevada (30.9 per 1,000 households); Florida (21.5 per 1,000); Colorado (16 per 1,000); Illinois (15.3 per 1,000); California (14 per 1,000); New Jersey (14 per 1,000); Arizona (13.5 per 1,000); Utah (10.6 per 1,000); Texas (9.2 per 1,000 households), and Tennessee (8.7 filings for every 1,000 households).

According to Foreclosures.com, the nation’s Northeast and Southeast regions have suffered triple-digit increases in per capita numbers of homeowners in pre-foreclosure this year compared with last. Pre-foreclosures in the Southeast — 14.2 filings for every 1,000 households — were up nearly 145 percent so far this year compared with the same period last year. The actual number of filings in the Southeast — 158,466 — also rose 145 percent to date over the same time in 2006, it says.

The number of filings in the Northeast — 95,528 to date in 2007 — is 120 percent higher than last year’s number.

[AnimalLover]

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