US Foreclosure Activity Hits New Record

Foreclosure activity in the US hit a new record in July, setting its third monthly record in five months, RealtyTrac is reporting.

Foreclosure filings - which include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions - hit 360,149, an increase of 7 per cent from June and 32 per cent on the year. One in every 355 US homes received a foreclosure filing in July.

Betting on Nevada was obvioulsy a mistake. For the 31st consecutive month Nevada documented the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 56 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing in July — more than six times the national average.

Initial default notices in Nevada decreased 18 percent from the previous month, likely the result of a new state law requiring lenders to offer mediation to homeowners facing foreclosure, writes RealtyTrac. The law took effect July 1. Meanwhile, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions in Nevada both increased more than 20 percent from the previous month, boosting overall foreclosure activity in the state by 4 percent on a month-over-month basis.

Initial defaults in California spiked 15 percent from the previous month, and the state registered the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate for the third month in a row. One in every 123 California housing units received a foreclosure filing in July, nearly three times the national average.

One in every 135 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing in July, the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate and more than 2.5 times the national average. Scheduled auctions), the first public record in the Arizona foreclosure process, jumped 25 percent from the previous month while bank repossessions stayed flat.

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