U.S. foreclosure activity rose 59.8 percent in February compared to the same month last year, data provider RealtyTrac reported today, and Nevada led the nation with a foreclosure rate of one filing for every 165 households — more than three times the national average.

RealtyTrac reported 223,651 total U.S. foreclosure filings in February, which includes filings for properties in default, scheduled for auction and real-estate-owned or REO foreclosure properties that have been repurchased by a bank. The national rate of foreclosure in February was one filing for every 557 households.

All but five states had a year-over-year rise in foreclosure activity in February — the company reported that year-over-year changes in foreclosure activity may be skewed higher in seven states due to changes in data coverage.

Among those states without changes in data coverage, foreclosure activity climbed 209.7 percent in Arizona, 162.5 percent in Idaho, 145.7 percent in Wisconsin, 142.4 percent in Hawaii and 131.2 percent in California in February compared to February 2007, and also more than doubled in Oregon, up 118.5 percent; Wyoming, up 113.3; and South Carolina, up 102.9 percent. In January, there was a 57 percent year-over-year rise in U.S. foreclosure filings activity.

Kentucky led all states with a 24.2 percent year-over-year decline in foreclosure activity in February, followed by Nebraska, down 21.4 percent; Iowa, down 20.4 percent; Louisiana, down 15.3 percent; and Texas, down 1 percent.

James J. Saccacio, CEO for RealtyTrac, which is a foreclosure data provider for sites including MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal, said in a statement that the year-over-year rise in February foreclosure activity “was significantly higher than the 19 percent year-over-year increase in February 2007, indicating we have still not reached the peak of foreclosure activity in this cycle.”

Behind Nevada, California had the second-highest rate of foreclosure filings, with one foreclosure filing for every 242 households. Florida followed with one filing for every 254 households; Arizona had a rate of one filing for every 264 households; and Colorado had a rate of one filing per every 305 households. West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi and Kentucky were among the states with the lowest foreclosure rates — West Virginia had a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 22,364 households.

California led all states in volume of foreclosure filings, with 53,629 in February. Next was Florida, with 32,447; Texas, 12,261; Michigan, 10,957; and Ohio, 10,386. RealtyTrac reported that North Dakota had 22 foreclosure filings in February, the fewest among all states. South Dakota had 26, West Virginia had 39, Wyoming had 64 and Hawaii had 143 filings.

Nine of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates in February were in California and Florida, RealtyTrac reported, led by the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area with a rate of one foreclosure filing for every 84 households. Second on the list was Stockton, Calif., with a rate of one filing for every 87 households. Modesto, Calif., was third, followed by Merced, Calif.; Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Bakersfield, Calif.; Vallejo-Fairfield, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported earlier this month that the rate of loans entering the foreclosure process hit a record 0.83 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 0.54 percent in fourth-quarter 2006 and 0.78 percent in third-quarter 2007. There total percentage of loans in the foreclosure process reached 2.04 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with 1.19 percent in the same quarter in 2006.

U.S. Foreclosure Market Statistics by State — Feb 2008

*Actual increase may not be as high due to improved or expanded data coverage in this state.
Source: RealtyTrac.

Source: Inman News