Foreclosure activity increased eight percent in July from June and was up 55 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to the latest report from RealtyTrac.
A total of 272,171 properties were in some stage of foreclosure last month, with one in every 464 households in the nation receiving a foreclosure notice in July.
And while preliminary filings like notices of default accounted for much of the activity, the final stage of the process is also exploding.
“Bank repossessions, or REOs, continued to be the fastest growing segment of foreclosure activity in July, posting a 184 percent year-over-year increase — compared to a 53 percent year-over-year increase in default notices and an 11 percent year-over-year increase in auction notices,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a press release.
“The sharp rise in REOs, combined with slow sales, has resulted in a bloated inventory of bank-owned properties for sale. RealtyTrac now has more than three quarters of a million properties in its active REO database, a number that represents approximately 17 percent of the inventory of existing homes for sale reported in June by the National Association of Realtors.”
As always, Nevada led the nation with the highest foreclosure rate of one filing per 106 households, followed by California at one per 182 households, and Florida at one per 186 households.
More startling however, was the fact that bank repossessions were up 384 percent in Nevada, 427 percent in California, and a whopping 627 percent in Florida, compared to the same period a year ago.
The highest foreclosure rate among 230 metro areas tracked by RealtyTrac was Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL with one filing per 64 households, followed by Merced, CA with one in every 73 households, and Stockton/Modesto, CA with one in every 82.
That’s a lot of missed mortgage payments…