Quarterly foreclosure activity sets new record

October 15, 11:25 AMReal Estate News ExaminerBroderick Perkins

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Foreclosures in the third quarter 2009 soared five percent from a quarter earlier, and 23 percent from a year ago, as banks began to unload pent-up supplies of distressed properties.

One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing -- default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions -- during the quartet, the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005.

Foreclosure filings were reported on nearly a million properties -- 937,840, for the third quarter.

September filings were down 4 percent from August this year, but up 29 percent from September 2008, according to RealtyTrac. September's total was the third highest monthly total since 2005, behind only July and August of this year.

Bank repossessions, or REOs (for "real estate owned") was the culprit. They jumped 21 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter and banks begin to move foreclosures held back for a variety of reasons.

(Keep abreast of the long and sorted foreclosures story.)

James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac said "REO activity increased from the previous quarter in all but two states and the District of Columbia, indicating that lenders may be starting to work through some of the pent-up foreclosure inventory caused by legislative delays, loan modification efforts and high volumes of distressed properties."

For the quarter, Nevada, Arizona, California again were at the top of the foreclosure rate list.

Nevada recorded one in 23 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, six times the national average. Arizona and California both recorded one in every 53 housing units facing foreclosure during the third quarter.

Other states with high foreclosure rates during the third quarter included Florida, Idaho, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Illinois.

Six states, California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan, accounted for 62 percent of the nation's total foreclosure activity in the third quarter.

Populous California, with a quarter million properties facing foreclosure filings, accounted for nearly 27 percent of the nation's total.