U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 5 PERCENT IN Q3
By RealtyTrac Staff   

 

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Sets New Quarterly Record, Up 23 Percent From Q3 2008

IRVINE, Calif. – Oct. 15, 2009 — RealtyTrac® (realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for Q3 2009, which shows that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 937,840 properties in the third quarter, a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 23 percent from Q3 2008. One in every 136 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter — the highest quarterly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in the first quarter of 2005.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 343,638 properties in September, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month but a 29 percent increase from September 2008. Despite the monthly decrease, September’s total was still the third highest monthly total since the RealtyTrac report began in January 2005, behind only July and August of this year.

“Bank repossessions, or REOs, jumped 21 percent from the second quarter to the third quarter, corresponding to jumps in defaults and scheduled auctions in the previous two quarters,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “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.”

Nevada, Arizona, California post top state foreclosure rates in third quarter
Nevada continued to document the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in the third quarter, with one in 23 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing — nearly six times the national average. Foreclosure filings were reported on 47,925 Nevada properties during the quarter, an increase of nearly 10 percent from the previous quarter and an increase of nearly 59 percent from the third quarter of 2008. Nevada REO activity in the third quarter increased 29 percent from the previous quarter and scheduled auctions increased 26 percent from the previous quarter, but defaults decreased 8 percent from the previous quarter.

Arizona posted the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in the third quarter, with one in every 53 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, and California posted the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, also with one in every 53 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 in the third quarter were Florida, Idaho, Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado and Illinois.

Six states account for more than 60 percent of nation’s third quarter total
California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Illinois and Michigan accounted for 62 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the third quarter, with 579,541 properties receiving foreclosure filings in the six states combined.

With 250,054 properties receiving foreclosure filings during the quarter, California accounted for nearly 27 percent of the nation’s total. The state’s foreclosure activity decreased nearly 2 percent from the previous quarter thanks to a 10 percent drop in default notices, but scheduled auctions increased 4 percent from the previous quarter and REOs increased 12 percent from the previous quarter.

Florida foreclosure activity decreased less than 1 percent from the previous quarter, but the state still posted the second highest foreclosure activity total for the third quarter. Foreclosure filings were reported on 156,924 Florida properties, a 23 percent increase from Q3 2008. Default notices in Florida decreased 6 percent from the previous quarter while scheduled auctions increased 5 percent from the previous quarter and REOs increased 16 percent from the previous quarter.

Arizona posted the nation’s third highest foreclosure activity total in the third quarter, with 50,342 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter — a 5 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 25 percent increase from Q3 2008.

Nevada posted the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure activity total, with 47,925 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in the third quarter, followed by Illinois, with 37,270 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, and Michigan, with 37,026 properties receiving a foreclosure filing. All three states reported increasing foreclosure activity from the previous quarter and from Q3 2008.

Other states with foreclosure activity totals among the nation’s 10 highest were Georgia (33,385), Texas (29,838), Ohio (29,645), and New Jersey (18,108).

Report methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month or quarter — broken out by type of filing at the state and national level. Data is also available at the individual county level for both Q1 2009 and March 2009. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default — Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction — Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). If more than one foreclosure document is filed against a property during the month or quarter, only the most recent filing is counted in the report.

 

U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State – Q3 2009

		Properties with Foreclosure Filings
Rate Rank	State Name	NOD	LIS	NTS	NFS	REO	Total	1/every X HH (rate)	%Change from Q2 09	%Change from Q3 08
--	United States	153,255	188,986	263,957	94,590	237,052	937,840	136	5.40	22.50
31	Alabama	8	0	3,808	0	2,135	5,951	359	-7.07	173.86*
33	Alaska	9	0	534	0	221	764	369	29.93	36.43
2	Arizona	20	0	36,176	0	14,146	50,342	53	5.07	24.55
21	Arkansas	339	0	3,002	0	1,837	5,178	249	11.59	39.61*
3	California	111,741	1	87,377	0	50,935	250,054	53	-1.52	18.60
9	Colorado	41	0	11,437	0	4,787	16,265	131	11.43	12.53
25	Connecticut	0	3,422	0	408	1,283	5,113	281	68.86	10.00
38	Delaware	0	4	0	483	291	778	500	-8.79	-11.69
	District of Columbia	405	0	619	0	159	1,183	240	19.37	-11.05
4	Florida	1	95,790	1	39,403	21,729	156,924	56	-0.71	23.27
7	Georgia	53	1	22,088	0	11,243	33,385	119	6.69	25.06
14	Hawaii	449	0	1,499	0	795	2,743	185	29.02	141.46
5	Idaho	2,916	0	3,021	0	594	6,531	97	28.06	153.53*
10	Illinois	0	18,585	1	8,980	9,704	37,270	141	13.68	30.29
20	Indiana	0	2,362	0	4,504	5,235	12,101	230	-12.75	-15.77
43	Iowa	1	0	658	0	1,292	1,951	681	17.81	31.91*
31	Kansas	0	538	0	1,129	1,735	3,402	358	39.71	47.08
41	Kentucky	1	1,050	0	1,126	1,102	3,279	581	15.30	12.45
37	Louisiana	0	762	0	2,092	1,132	3,986	466	21.30*	98.70*
42	Maine	0	234	0	577	242	1,053	662	27.02	33.12
12	Maryland	3	6,795	0	5,795	2,210	14,803	157	58.83	85.64
17	Mass.	1	7,779	0	3,159	1,728	12,667	215	17.53	34.81
8	Michigan	11,454	0	10,575	0	14,997	37,026	122	9.50**	22.31**
18	Minnesota	31	0	5,450	0	5,139	10,620	217	16.27	100.26
40	Mississippi	4	1	841	0	1,374	2,220	565	50.51*	241.01*
30	Missouri	24	0	4,470	0	3,398	7,892	335	8.26	-11.17†
47	Montana	1	0	19	0	273	293	1,486	94.04	-6.69
45	Nebraska	241	247	12	6	229	735	1,062	75.84*	-29.67
1	Nevada	19,949	0	16,329	0	11,647	47,925	23	9.68	58.88
27	New Hampshire	14	0	1,372	0	558	1,944	306	-5.08	-2.21
15	New Jersey	0	11,816	0	3,878	2,414	18,108	193	44.59	1.20
35	New Mexico	0	890	0	837	456	2,183	395	9.20	84.69*
39	New York	0	11,048	1	2,316	1,877	15,242	521	11.55	5.28
36	North Carolina	1,028	4	4,158	0	4,628	9,818	420	28.86	-5.99
49	North Dakota	0	3	0	59	52	114	2,724	29.55	-20.28
13	Ohio	0	12,137	0	8,707	8,801	29,645	171	-4.73	-11.71
29	Oklahoma	744	843	396	1,980	1,069	5,032	323	64.66*	22.02*
11	Oregon	108	2	7,033	0	3,175	10,318	156	7.09	76.59
34	Pennsylvania	1	4,961	0	5,232	3,973	14,167	387	7.16	15.48
26	Rhode Island	1	0	871	0	682	1,554	290	-6.33	-2.75
24	South Carolina	1	3,695	1	1,153	2,696	7,546	268	10.99	59.74
44	South Dakota	0	110	0	105	149	364	981	127.50	205.88
22	Tennessee	4	1	4,730	0	6,153	10,888	250	3.92	-9.09††
28	Texas	86	4	17,256	0	12,492	29,838	316	11.27	8.72
6	Utah	3,515	0	3,564	0	2,474	9,553	97	13.24	96.28
50	Vermont	2	1	7	0	52	62	5,023	342.86	169.57
16	Virginia	51	1	10,136	0	6,499	16,687	196	8.24	4.14†
23	Washington	0	0	6,142	0	4,233	10,375	264	-7.32	33.00
48	West Virginia	6	0	287	0	277	570	1,549	67.16*	356.00*
19	Wisconsin	1	5,899	0	2,661	2,620	11,181	229	11.17	105.16
46	Wyoming	1	0	86	0	130	217	1,117	-4.82	-14.90

 

 

 

 

		Properties with Foreclosure Filings -- September 2009
Rate Rank	State Name	NOD	LIS	NTS	NFS	REO	Total	%Change from Aug 09	%Change from Sep 08
--	United States	56,979	65,186	97,925	35,727	87,821	343,638	-4.14	29.20
31	Alabama	2	0	1,056	0	1,354	2,412	21.63	233.15*
38	Alaska	4	0	165	0	56	225	-8.91	9.22
4	Arizona	7	0	10,830	0	4,090	14,927	-16.17	14.98
27	Arkansas	120	0	1,044	0	522	1,686	-11.26	4.07
2	California	38,573	0	31,453	0	16,311	86,337	-6.49	24.14
9	Colorado	15	0	4,242	0	1,955	6,212	-4.02	42.97
24	Connecticut	0	1,415	0	94	625	2,134	-2.91	61.91
43	Delaware	0	2	0	106	105	213	-32.17	-50.35
	District of Columbia	99	0	219	0	102	420	-7.08	100.96
3	Florida	0	32,219	0	13,707	9,110	55,036	-11.80	14.76
7	Georgia	39	0	10,245	0	4,688	14,972	25.32	61.01
15	Hawaii	162	0	598	0	209	969	11.51	63.13
5	Idaho	1,122	0	1,051	0	356	2,529	-3.47	135.91*
11	Illinois	0	7,174	0	2,286	3,311	12,771	-2.35	25.16
20	Indiana	0	864	0	1,379	2,210	4,453	-30.66	-22.49
42	Iowa	0	0	234	0	540	774	6.76	100.52*
33	Kansas	0	243	0	443	586	1,272	20.45	22.43
40	Kentucky	0	346	0	427	518	1,291	17.26	62.59
37	Louisiana	0	354	0	641	654	1,649	1.17	247.89*
41	Maine	0	58	0	201	149	408	29.94	25.54
10	Maryland	0	2,527	0	3,359	865	6,751	22.95	200.45
18	Mass.	0	2,481	0	1,537	599	4,617	-21.88	15.95
8	Michigan	6,144	0	5,122	0	5,501	16,767	-13.39	58.88
23	Minnesota	15	0	1,632	0	1,850	3,497	-5.18	63.11
30	Mississippi	2	0	217	0	1,198	1,417	187.42*	400.71*
29	Missouri	4	0	1,763	0	1,387	3,154	26.26	8.76†
48	Montana	0	0	0	0	109	109	9.00	159.52
44	Nebraska	175	0	2	0	178	355	59.91*	834.21*
1	Nevada	8,568	0	6,327	0	3,871	18,766	4.83	44.11
26	New Hampshire	0	0	463	0	318	781	-32.90	51.65
22	New Jersey	0	3,048	0	1,353	966	5,367	-35.46	-29.92
35	New Mexico	0	270	0	298	230	798	8.42	229.75*
39	New York	0	3,902	0	824	967	5,693	6.41	71.37
36	North Carolina	455	0	1,396	0	1,884	3,735	-13.48	50.79
49	North Dakota	0	0	0	20	14	34	3.03	-5.56
14	Ohio	0	3,971	0	3,613	3,349	10,933	-3.83	-4.68
16	Oklahoma	0	734	0	1,739	540	3,013	131.41*	135.94*
13	Oregon	50	0	2,276	0	1,156	3,482	-2.00	48.55
34	Pennsylvania	0	1,748	0	2,131	1,615	5,494	-4.72	31.15
12	Rhode Island	1	0	614	0	366	981	10.35	59.25
21	South Carolina	0	1,593	0	581	1,057	3,231	30.55	46.73
47	South Dakota	0	12	0	42	73	127	7.63	149.02
28	Tennessee	3	0	1,597	0	1,931	3,531	-15.93	-13.84
25	Texas	25	0	8,506	0	4,685	13,216	17.36	43.76
6	Utah	1,357	0	1,352	0	973	3,682	12.36	110.88
50	Vermont	0	0	4	0	28	32	-3.03	433.33
17	Virginia	30	0	3,697	0	2,028	5,755	-3.67	-10.04†
32	Washington	0	0	1,684	0	1,372	3,056	15.02	56.56
46	West Virginia	6	0	96	0	220	322	125.17*	395.38*
19	Wisconsin	0	2,225	0	946	983	4,154	4.77	169.04
45	Wyoming	1	0	40	0	57	98	100.00	11.36

*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements
**Collection of records classified as NOD began in August 2009 because of change in state law
† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in January 2009
†† Collection of some records previously classified as NOD in this state was discontinued starting in September 2008