Foreclosure filings reached the highest on record in July, while repossessions shot up 10 percent from June. Nearly one-third of all foreclosures were in California, and Nevada had the highest rate.
Servicers filed foreclosures on a record 360,149 properties last month, RealtyTrac reported this morning. Filings rose from June’s 336,173 and July 2008’s 272,171.
Filings included notices of default and Lis Pendens; notices of trustee sale and notices of foreclosure sale; and real estate owned properties that were foreclosed on.
From January through July, 2,053,467 U.S. properties have faced foreclosure filings.
California continued to come in as the highest volume state, with 108,104 properties facing foreclosure. Florida followed with 56,486, then Arizona at 19,694 and Nevada with 19,535. Illinois was No. 5 at 14,524 foreclosures, and at just 11 filings, Vermont saw the fewest.
One-in-355 U.S. properties faced a foreclosure filing in July, worsening from one-in-380 the previous month and one filing for every 464 households a year earlier.
With every 56th household facing a foreclosure, Nevada had the highest rate of any state. California followed at one-in-123, then Arizona at one filing for every 135 households and Florida, where one out of every 154 properties had a foreclosure filed. Utah claimed the No. 5 spot, with one foreclosure filed for each 250 households.
The Las Vegas area had a foreclosure filed for each 47 housing units, the worst of any metropolitan area. The Stockton, Calif., metropolitan area had the second highest rate: one-in-62. No. 3 was Modesto, Calif., at one-in-63, and Cape Coral-Fort Myers Fla., where the rate was a filing for each 64 households. No 5 was Merced, Calif., where one in 66 units faced a foreclosure.
U.S. REO filings reached 87,258 last month, rising from 79,474 in June and 77,295 in July 2008. Year-to-date through July 31, REOÂ filings totaled 474,058.
The most repossessions were in California, where 21,385 properties were taken back by lenders. Florida saw 6,757 REO filings, ranking it No. 2. Next was Arizona, where 5,572 REOs were filed, then Michigan with 5,561 and Texas, which had 4,859 REOs.
Vermont saw the fewest REOs in June: 11.
