No relief from foreclosure heat in August
Despite a month-over-month and year-over-year decrease in bank repossessions (REOs) in August, total foreclosure activity in August remained close to the record high set in July thanks to increasing defaults and scheduled foreclosure auctions, according to the latest RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. A total of 358,471 U.S. properties received foreclosure filings during the month, a decrease of less than 1 percent from the previous month but still an increase of nearly 18 percent from August 2008.
“The August report demonstrates that there is still an ample supply of properties filling the foreclosure pipeline even while the outflow of bank-owned REO properties onto the resale market is being more carefully regulated,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “After hitting a high for the year in July, REOs dropped 13 percent in August, but we also saw a record high number of properties either entering default or being scheduled for a public foreclosure auction for the first time.”
Nevada, Florida and California posted the three highest state foreclosure rates in August. These three states, along with Michigan, Arizona and Illinois, accounted for more than 60 percent of the nation's total foreclosure activity for the month despite monthly decreases in REOs in all six states.
Las Vegas documented the highest metro foreclosure rate followed by five California metro areas: Stockton, Merced, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Vallejo-Fairfield, and Modesto. Other metro areas with foreclosure rates in the top 10 included the Florida cities of Orlando-Kissimmee at No. 8 and Cape-Coral-Fort Myers at No. 9.
View state data.