USA Foreclosures Hit All-Time High!

October 19th, 2009 by Marco Santarelli

Just when you thought foreclosure filings were stabilizing, they hit another all-time high with almost 938,000 homeowners filing in the third quarter, according to Realty Trac. This is a 5% increase from the previous quarter.

Six states account for 62% of the nations foreclosures: California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan accounted for 62 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the third quarter. That accounts for 579,541 properties receiving foreclosure filings in the six states combined.

Although California’s foreclosure activity decreased almost 2% from Q2 there were still 250,054 properties that received a foreclosure filing. That was a 10% drop in default notices but a 4% increase in scheduled auctions and 12% increase in REOs.

Florida continues to maintain the second highest foreclosure activity with 156,924 filings — a 23% year-over-year increase and 1% over Q2. Scheduled auctions increased 5% and REOs increased 16% over the previous quarter.

Arizona had 50,342 foreclosure filings during the third quarter of this year — the third highest in the country. This was a 5% increase over the previous quarter.

Nevada, with 47,925 foreclosure filings, held the number four spot nationwide. Nevada had a 5% increase over the previous quarter (like Arizona), and a 25% increase year-over-year.

Illinois had 37,270 properties receive a foreclosure filing. Michigan had 37,026 properties receive a foreclosure filing. Both states experienced increasing foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and previous year.

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

What we are observing is a slow down in foreclosure activity in the southern sand states, but an increase in the crisis as it quickly spreads up through the Midwest.