U.S. Foreclosure Activity Sets New Quarterly Record, Up 23 Percent From Q3 2008

IRVINE, Calif. — RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for Q3 2009, which shows that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 937,840 properties in the third quarter, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 23 percent from Q3 2008. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter — the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 343,638 properties in September, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month but a 29 percent increase from September 2008. Despite the monthly decrease, September’s total was still the third highest monthly total since the RealtyTrac report began in January 2005, behind only July and August of this year.

“Bank repossessions, or REOs, jumped 21 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, corresponding to jumps in defaults and scheduled auctions in the previous two quarters,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “REO activity increased from the previous quarter in all but two states and the District of Columbia, indicating that lenders may be starting to work through some of the pent-up foreclosure inventory caused by legislative delays, loan modification efforts and high volumes of distressed properties..”

Nevada, Arizona, California post top state foreclosure rates in third quarter

Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in the third quarter, with one in 23 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — nearly six times the national average. Foreclosure filings were reported on 47,925 Nevada properties during the quarter, an increase of nearly 10 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 59 percent from the third quarter of 2008. Nevada REO activity in the third quarter increased 29 percent from the previous quarter and scheduled auctions increased 26 percent from the previous quarter, but defaults decreased 8 percent from the previous quarter.

Arizona posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in the third quarter, with one in every 53 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, and California posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, also with one in every 53 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in the third quarter were Florida, Idaho, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Illinois.

Six states account for more than 60 percent of nation’s third quarter total

California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan accounted for 62 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the third quarter, with 579,541 properties receiving foreclosure filings in the six states combined.

With 250,054 properties receiving foreclosure filings during the quarter, California accounted for nearly 27 percent of the nation’s total. The state’s foreclosure activity decreased nearly 2 percent from the previous quarter thanks to a 10 percent drop in default notices, but scheduled auctions increased 4 percent from the previous quarter and REOs increased 12 percent from the previous quarter.

Florida foreclosure activity decreased less than 1 percent from the previous quarter, but the state still posted the second highest foreclosure activity total for the third quarter. Foreclosure filings were reported on 156,924 Florida properties, a 23 percent increase from Q3 2008. Default notices in Florida decreased 6 percent from the previous quarter while scheduled auctions increased 5 percent from the previous quarter and REOs increased 16 percent from the previous quarter.

Arizona posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure activity total in the third quarter, with 50,342 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 25 percent increase from Q3 2008.

Nevada posted the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure activity total, with 47,925 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in the third quarter, followed by Illinois, with 37,270 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, and Michigan, with 37,026 properties receiving a foreclosure filing. All three states reported increasing foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and from Q3 2008.

Other states with foreclosure activity totals among the nation’s 10 highest were Georgia (33,385), Texas (29,838), Ohio (29,645), and New Jersey (18,108).

Report methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month or quarter — broken out by type of filing at the state and national level. Data is also available at the individual county level for both Q1 2009 and March 2009. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. 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 or quarter, only the most recent filing is counted in the report.