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Foreclosure filings soar in
3rd quarter
ALEX VEIGA
AP
Friday November 2, 2007
A soaring number of U.S. homeowners struggled to make mortgage
payments in the third quarter, with properties in some stage of
foreclosure more than doubling from the same time last year, a
mortgage data company said Thursday.
A total of 446,726 homes nationwide were targeted by some sort
of foreclosure activity from July to September, up 100.1 percent
from 223,233 properties in the year-ago period, according to Irvine-based
RealtyTrac Inc.
The current figure was 33.9 percent higher than the 333,731 properties
in foreclosure in the second quarter of this year.
There was one foreclosure filing for every 196 households in
the nation during the most recent quarter, RealtyTrac said.
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All but five states reported a year-over-year increase in foreclosure
filings, which include notices of default, auction sale notices
or bank repossessions, the company said.
A single property can sometimes receive more than one notice
in a three-month period.
In all, 635,159 filings were reported in the third quarter, up
99.5 percent from the year-ago quarter and up 30 percent from
the second quarter of this year.
RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said in a statement that August
and September accounted for the highest monthly totals since the
company began issuing foreclosure filing reports in January 2005.
"Given the number of loans due to reset through the middle
of 2008, and the continuing weakness in home sales, we would expect
foreclosure activity to remain high and even increase over the
next year in many markets," he said.
Mortgage lenders are bracing for a flood of defaults as many
adjustable-rate mortgages originated in 2005 and 2006 during the
height of the housing market frenzy reset to higher interest rates.
The loans were initially attractive options for buyers because
of their cheaper "teaser" interest rates that kept monthly
payments low, but even a small percentage increase can translate
into a far higher payment.
With home sales in decline and prices down or flat in many regions,
more homeowners are landing in foreclosure because they can't
afford to sell their homes after falling behind on payments.
The three states with the highest foreclosure rates during the
third quarter were Nevada, California and Florida, RealtyTrac
said.
Nevada reported one foreclosure filing for every 61 households,
with 16,817 filings on 12,982 properties.
That marked a 22.8 percent increase in filings from the previous
quarter and a tripling from the year-ago quarter.
California led the nation in total foreclosure filings and reported
one filing for every 88 households.
The state had 148,147 filings on 94,772 properties, an increase
in filings of 36 percent from the previous quarter and nearly
four times more than the year-ago period.
In Florida, there were 86,465 foreclosure filings on 60,992 properties
during the third quarter, RealtyTrac said. Foreclosure filings
rose 51.5 percent from the previous quarter and more than doubled
from the same quarter last year.
Florida's foreclosure rate amounted to one filing for every 95
households, RealtyTrac said.
Rounding out the top 10 states in foreclosure rates were Michigan,
Ohio, Colorado, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Texas.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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