The number of U.S. properties for which a foreclosure filing was received rose 18% in May from a year earlier, according to online foreclosure concern RealtyTrac, as bank repossessions surged in several states outside the Sun Belt, which had been seeing the worst of the housing crash.
Filings fell 6% from April, the first month-on-month decrease since January, but the decline would have been bigger had it not been for the jump in bank repossessions in states like Michigan, Washington and New York.
RealtyTrac Chief Executive James J. Saccacio expects such seizures to keep rising “in the coming months as foreclosure delays and moratoria implemented by various state laws come to an end.”
The 321,480 filings, which also include default notices and scheduled auctions, was the third-highest month on record and equated to one in every 398 U.S. housing units. It has been above 300,000 for three straight months.
Nevada continued to post the highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 64 homes getting a filing. California was second with one in 144 units, while Florida was next at one in 148. Those states have been among the hardest hit by the housing downturn, with prices slumping as much as 50% in some areas from their peaks in mid-2006.
In metropolitan areas with at least 200,000 people, Las Vegas has the highest filing rate at one in 54 housing units. Its rate was up 78% from a year earlier. Areas in California and Florida made up the rest of the top 10, with Stockton, Calif., coming in second at one in 68.
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
-By Kerry E. Grace, Dow Jones Newswires
Mon, Jun 29, 2009
Crisis News, National Trends