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12,980 viewsFORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 5 PERCENT IN MARCH 2008
By RealtyTrac Staff
Foreclosure Activity Up 57 Percent From March 2007
Foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 234,685 properties nationwide in March, a 5 percent increase from the previous month and a 57 percent increase from March 2007, according to RealtyTrac® March 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™. The report also shows one in every 538 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.
“The March numbers show that overall foreclosure activity so far this year continues to run nearly 60 percent above the levels we saw last year,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129 percent, but auction notices were up only 32 percent, indicating that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender. This deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take possession of a property without putting it up for public foreclosure auction.”
Nevada, California, Florida post top state foreclosure rates
One in every 139 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing during March, 3.9 times the national average and the highest state foreclosure rate for the 15th consecutive month. Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 7,659 properties during the month, up 24 percent from the previous month and up nearly 62 percent from March 2007.
Foreclosure rates in California and Florida ranked second and third highest respectively among the states for the fourth straight month. One in every 204 California households received a foreclosure filing in March — 2.6 times the national average — and one in every 282 Florida households received a foreclosure filing during the month — 1.9 times the national average.
Despite a nearly 5 percent monthly dip in foreclosure activity, Arizona posted the nation’s fourth highest state foreclosure rate for the third straight month, with one in every 283 households receiving a foreclosure filing in March. Foreclosure filings were reported on 9,199 properties during the month, up nearly 106 percent from March 2007.
Colorado foreclosure activity decreased 8 percent from the previous month and 1 percent from March 2007, but the state’s foreclosure rate continued to rank fifth highest among the states. Foreclosure filings were reported on 6,180 Colorado properties during the month — one in every 339 total households.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts and Maryland.
California, Florida, Ohio report highest foreclosure totals
Foreclosure filings were reported on 64,711 California properties in March, the most of any state for the 15th consecutive month. California foreclosure activity increased nearly 21 percent from the previous month and almost 106 percent from March 2007.
Florida posted the nation’s second highest total, with foreclosure filings reported on 30,254 properties in March. The state’s foreclosure activity decreased nearly 7 percent from the previous month but was still up almost 112 percent from March 2007.
Ohio and Georgia both registered month-to-month and year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity, and foreclosure filings were reported on more than 11,000 properties in both states. Ohio’s total of 11,273 was the nation’s third highest, and one in every 448 Ohio households received a foreclosure filing during the month — ranking its foreclosure rate No. 7 among the states. Georgia’s total of 11,047 was the nation’s fourth highest, and one in every 351 Georgia households received a foreclosure filing during the month — ranking its foreclosure rate No. 6 among the states.
Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 10,700 Texas properties in March, a nearly 13 percent decrease from the previous month and a 16 percent decrease from March 2007, and the state’s total dropped to fifth highest among the states.
Other states in the top 10 for total properties with filings were Michigan, Arizona, Illinois, Nevada and Colorado.
Report methodology
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. RealtyTrac’s 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.
U.S. Foreclosure Market Statistics by State – March 2008
| Properties with Foreclosure Filings | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rate Rank | State Name | NOD | ||||||||
--
56,493
47,677
55,398
23,724
51,393
234,685
538
4.93
57.35
43
0
0
296
0
353
649
3,251
-8.07
-19.48
29
Alaska
0
0
173
0
19
192
1,440
29.73
95.92
4
12
0
6,484
0
2,703
9,199
283
-4.67
105.52
23
47
0
1,045
0
118
1,210
1,053
-13.14
139.60
2
40,761
0
9,925
0
14,025
64,711
204
20.66
105.86
5
35
0
3,954
0
2,191
6,180
339
-8.27
-1.39
14
0
1,833
1
275
17
2,126
674
-3.28
40.15
34
0
1
0
140
51
192
1,994
-15.79
34.27
4
0
242
0
61
307
921
-9.71
6040.00*
3
0
20,747
50
6,295
3,162
30,254
282
-6.76
111.52
6
47
0
6,870
0
4,130
11,047
351
44.76*
63.20
45
26
0
88
0
6
120
4,167
-16.08
84.62
21
385
0
242
0
30
657
937
-14.56
85.07
12
0
6,194
199
688
1,542
8,623
603
-1.54
10.28
11
0
1,764
22
1,947
1,386
5,119
538
-0.54
18.17
37
2
0
312
0
198
512
2,579
8.25
-11.72
31
0
114
2
331
263
710
1,701
55.70
58.84
38
0
94
7
420
170
691
2,733
45.17
-1.29
42
0
8
0
502
116
626
2,923
-3.69
8.12
44
94
0
94
0
8
196
3,526
-3.45
201.54*
10
0
1,698
5
2,222
350
4,275
538
6.45
343.01
9
0
3,167
9
2,291
106
5,573
486
42.68
59.37
8
1,140
0
6,056
0
2,298
9,494
475
-13.35
10.27
32
24
0
763
0
536
1,323
1,726
-15.79
63.74
46
0
0
109
0
79
188
6,604
27.03
100.00
19
901
0
1,288
0
1,179
3,368
779
-2.91
35.04
39
0
0
149
0
5
154
2,805
-14.92
31.62
40
0
12
4
223
35
274
2,828
18.61
-23.25
1
5,029
0
1,003
0
1,627
7,659
139
24.19
61.65
28
0
0
244
0
170
414
1,425
-35.61
260.00*
18
0
2,793
0
1,341
348
4,482
775
-19.94
-6.23
36
0
288
1
10
43
342
2,486
-32.14
4.91
30
0
3,384
9
873
822
5,088
1,554
-2.96
37.11
26
2,388
0
97
0
813
3,298
1,222
-18.61
1.76
49
0
0
0
1
7
8
38,475
-63.64
-66.67
7
0
3,876
42
3,742
3,613
11,273
448
8.54
37.11
24
121
0
514
0
812
1,447
1,111
-19.21
27.15
22
1,119
0
434
0
80
1,633
972
3.09
118.61
33
0
391
24
1,762
723
2,900
1,880
20.08
-0.72
25
0
0
369
0
29
398
1,130
-10.76
25.95
35
0
394
2
99
437
932
2,120
33.52
174.12*
48
0
0
0
14
2
16
22,051
-38.46
-50.00
15
1,385
0
1,567
0
955
3,907
686
-21.21
22.94
20
121
0
6,997
0
3,582
10,700
862
-12.73
-16.11
17
161
0
946
0
123
1,230
733
-4.50
93.40
50
0
0
2
0
0
2
154,779
-50.00
100.00*
13
1,062
0
2,860
0
1,011
4,933
655
17.82
368.03*
16
1,608
0
1,843
0
379
3,830
705
72.52*
120.62
47
0
0
37
0
31
68
12,909
74.36
-28.42
27
0
919
14
548
592
2,073
1,222
-13.37
150.67
41
21
0
4
0
57
82
2,917
28.13
720.00*
*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements
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