Foreclosure Filings Surge in May; Florida Housing Market Leads Way
Across the nation, foreclosure filings surged 90 percent in May from a year earlier, as more owners fell behind on their monthly mortgage payments, RealtyTrac Inc. said.
There were 176,137 notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions last month, led by California, Ohio and the Florida housing market, the Irvine, California-based seller of foreclosure data said in a report today.
The median price for a U.S. home slid 1.8 percent the first three months of 2007, as the housing slump entered its second year, according to the National Association of Realtors. The filings rose 19 percent from April.
A jump in foreclosures at a time of year that traditionally is the busiest for home sales means the slide in prices probably isn’t over, said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. Typically, more than half of all home sales occur in the April to June period, according to Freddie Mac, the No. 2 national and Florida mortgage buyer.
“Such strong activity in the midst of the typical spring buying season could foreshadow even higher foreclosure levels later in the year,” Saccacio said in the report. That will add “to the downward pressure on home prices in many areas.”
Ranked by the number of foreclosure filings, California topped the list, with 39,659 in May, while Florida was No. 2, with 21,704. Rather than count the number of unique households in foreclosure, the study counts the number of foreclosure-related legal filings, which could result in some properties being double- or triple-counted.
Taking into account the number of homes, Nevada was the No. 1 state, with one filing for every 166 households. The Colorado housing market was second, with one filing for every 290 households, followed by California, Florida, Ohio, and Arizona.
Michigan ranked No. 8, with one foreclosure filing for every 448 households, Connecticut was No. 10 and Massachusetts was No. 11.
In the report, 43 regions reported an increase in foreclosure filings from a year ago, including the District of Columbia, and eight states had a decline.
RealtyTrac, started in 1996, sells subscriptions at $49.95 a month for access to an online database of foreclosed properties. While the news about loan defaults is discouraging, lenders and Florida mortgage brokers are working to assist borrowers in their times of need right now.
