One in 78 Housing Units In U.S. In Foreclosure In First Half of 2010

Dennis Norman

According to a report released this morning by RealtyTrac there were 1,961,894 foreclosure filings in the first six months of 2010 on 1,654,634 housing units in the U.S.  This reflects a 5 percent decrease from foreclosure activity for the prior 6 month period but is an 8 percent increase from the same period of 2009.  What is just a sickening statistic in the report is that, during the first six months of 2010, 1.28 percent of all housing units in the U.S., or one in 78, received at least one foreclosure filing during that period.

For the month of June there were foreclosure filings reported on 313,841 U.S. properties, a decrease of nearly 3 percent from May and a decrease of nearly 7 percent from June 2009.  However, June marked the sixteenth consecutive month with over 300,000 foreclosure filings during the month.

James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said “the midyear numbers put us on pace to exceed 3 million properties with foreclosure filings by the end of the year, and more than 1 million bank repossessions…….the roller coaster pattern of foreclosure activity over the past 12 months demonstrates that while the foreclosure problem is being managed on the surface, a massive number of distressed properties and underwater loans continues to sit just below the surface, threatening the fragile stability of the housing market.”

States with Highest Foreclosure Rates in first half of 2010-

1. Nevada – One in ever 17 housing units
2. Arizona – One in every 30 housing units
3. Florida – One in every 32 housing units
4. California – One in every 39 housing units
5. Utah- One in every 52 housing units
6. Georgia – One in every 56 housing units
7. Michigan – One in every 58 housing units
8. Idaho – One in every 60 housing units
9. Illinois – One in every 62 housing units
10. Colorado – One in every 71 housing units

So while it is good to see the month-over-month foreclosure rates decrease the rates continue to hover around record levels which is not good.  Plus, as Mr. Saccacio addresses with his comment about the massive numbers of distressed properties and underwater loans “sitting just below the surface” and as I addressed last week in my post ‘Shadow’ Foreclosure Inventory is the 800 lb Gorilla, this problem is far from over unfortunately.

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