Foreclosure Activity Decreases 10 Percent in January

RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its January 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 274,399 U.S. properties during the month, a 10 percent decrease from the previous month but still up 18 percent from January 2008. The report also shows one in every 466 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in January.

“The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers — particularly the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac moratorium on all foreclosure sales that was extended through the end of January along with Florida’s voluntary 45-day freeze on all new foreclosure actions and scheduling of foreclosure sales that was announced at the beginning of December,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “January REOs, which represent completed foreclosure sales to the foreclosing lender, were down 15 percent nationwide from the previous month. And in Florida overall foreclosure activity was down 20 percent from the previous month.”

Nevada, California, Arizona post top state foreclosure rates

Nevada foreclosure activity in January decreased 4 percent from the previous month, but the state continued to register the nation’s No. 1 foreclosure rate, with one in every 76 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Foreclosure filings were reported on 14,444 Nevada properties in January, up 137 percent from January 2008.

California posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in January, with one in every 173 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, and Arizona posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 182 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

Despite a 20 percent month-over-month drop in foreclosure activity, Florida posted the nation’s fourth highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 214 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest were Oregon, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, Idaho and Ohio.

California, Florida, Arizona post highest foreclosure totals

Foreclosure filings were reported on 76,761 California properties, the most of any state despite a 14 percent decrease from the previous month. The state’s foreclosure activity in January still increased 34 percent from January 2008.

Florida’s 40,770 properties receiving foreclosure filings in January was the second highest total of any state, and Arizona’s 14,674 properties receiving foreclosure filings was the third highest total of any state

Illinois foreclosure activity in January increased 16 percent from the previous month, giving the state 14,447 properties with foreclosure filings — the fourth highest state total. One in every 363 Illinois properties received a foreclosure filing in January, the nation’s sixth highest foreclosure rate.

Nevada, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Virginia also reported foreclosure totals that were among the nation’s 10 highest.

California, Florida, Nevada cities post top metro foreclosure rates

California cities accounted for six of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates in January among metro areas with a population of 200,000 or more. Merced, Calif., posted the top metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 59 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the month — nearly eight times the national average.

Other California metro areas with foreclosure rates among the top 10: Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 4 with one in every 81 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Modesto at No. 5 with one in every 84 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Stockton at No. 6 with one in every 86 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7 with one in every 100 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing; and Bakersfield at No. 8 with one in every 120 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

Two Florida cities posted foreclosure rates among the top 10 metro foreclosure rates: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 3 with one in every 80 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing and Port St. Lucie at No. 9 with one in every 123 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.

With one in every 63 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, the Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., metro area posted the second highest metro foreclosure rate in January. The Reno-Sparks, Nev., metro area posted the 10th highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 128 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. Reno-Sparks was the only metro area in the top 10 that did not experience a month-over-month decrease in foreclosure activity, but all of the top 10 saw year-over-year increases in activity.

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 — broken out by type of filing at the state and national level. Data is also available at the individual county level. 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. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month or quarter. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.

About RealtyTrac Inc.
Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (www.realtytrac.com), is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new homes, with more than 1 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal. For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, visit our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.