Foreclosure - January Sees Jump In Foreclosure Activity Across The Country

January Sees Jump In Foreclosure Activity Across The Country

March 3rd, 2008

RealtyTrac is a renowned name in foreclosure tracking. According to it there has been an increase of 8% in foreclosure activity across US from December 2007. By foreclosure activity is meant all stages of foreclosure – default, auction and sale notices as well as bank repossessions. The year 2007 saw a rise of 57% in foreclosure posting, and bank repossessions rose by 90% as compared to the previous year. The comprehensive analysis has covered about 1 million properties from 2,500 counties all over the country. RealtyTrac based in Irvin provides the data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo Real Estate and Wall Street Real Estate Journal.

From the recent figures it is apparent that foreclosure numbers are increasing at an alarming pace says a senior spokesperson of RealtyTrac. However he clarified that the 8% hike in January 2008 is not as steep as the 19% hike in 2007. Many states experienced a slow down in foreclosures. Perhaps the joint efforts of government with lenders and communities are beginning to show. Only time will tell whether the effects are temporary or not.

Nevada, California and Florida continued to top the list of foreclosure offenders. Nevada ran first among 50 states with 6,087 foreclosure postings during January. It was however a 45% decrease from the previous month but nevertheless 95% higher than the percentage of increase in January 2007.

In the January foreclosure activities California ranked second and Florida stood third. Among the top ten were Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan. The highest foreclosure totals were recorded from California, Florida and Texas. There were 57,158 foreclosure listings from California in January – up by 7% from December 2007 and by 120% from January 2007.

It is imperative for all concerned to stem the tide of foreclosures. The borrowers are a disgruntled dispossessed group causing concern for vote seekers. The lenders are facing a cash crunch with millions of houses weighing them down – the flow of money from mortgage repayments have dried up and yet the value of the houses have become less than the loan amount because of the slump being generated in the real estate market. Abandoned houses are adding to the fall as it attracts criminal activity and vitiates the surrounding environment. The tax kitties are drying up with less to meet police and fire fighting brigades. The picture is grim.