Foreclosure activity in April was up 62 percent from the same month a year ago, despite its 1 percent drop from the previous month, a foreclosure tracking service reported.
A total of 147,708 foreclosure filings — including default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported during the month, according to RealtyTrac. The company also reported a national foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 783 U.S. households in April.
Nevada, Colorado and Connecticut had the top foreclosure rates in the nation, according to RealtyTrac’s data.
Slowing sales and price appreciation, along with the impact of rising mortgage payments for home buyers who got in over their heads with exotic loans, have contributed to rising foreclosures. A March report by First American CoreLogic Inc. predicts 1.1 million foreclosures nationwide in the next six to seven years among adjustable-rate mortgage loans that originated from 2004-06.
While RealtyTrac states in the announcement that it publishes “the largest and most comprehensive national database of preforeclosure and foreclosure properties, with over 900,000 properties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country,” some groups have criticized the service’s estimates.
The Colorado state Division of Housing conducted a review, for example, that concluded that RealtyTrac, among other foreclosure data providers, may exaggerate foreclosure data for that state.
Also, a congressional report that details rising foreclosures for subprime loans uses RealtyTrac statistics, and the Mortgage Bankers Association has criticized the report’s data as “faulty” and “inflated.” MBA Chairman John Robbins said RealtyTrac overestimates the number of foreclosures.
In RealtyTrac’s April report, there were 3,737 foreclosure filings in Nevada during April, the highest among the 50 states for the fourth month in a row and more than three times the national average. The state’s foreclosure activity decreased 21 percent from the previous month but was up more than 200 percent from April 2006.
Colorado’s foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 314 households was second highest among the states despite a 7 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. The state reported 5,826 foreclosure filings during April, the eighth most of any state and a 57 percent increase from April 2006.
Connecticut’s foreclosure rate leaped to third highest among the states in April. The state reported 4,207 foreclosure filings during the month, more than twice the national average. RealtyTrac said that Connecticut’s dramatic increase was due in part to more rigorous data collection activities the company implemented.
Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nations 10 highest in April were California, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Michigan.
With 30,505 foreclosure filings reported in April, California documented the largest foreclosure total of any state for the fourth month in a row. The state’s foreclosure activity decreased about 3 percent from the previous month but was up more than 200 percent from April 2006, resulting in a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 400 households — fourth highest among the states and nearly twice the national average.
Florida reported 14,318 foreclosure filings in April, the second-largest state total and a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 510 households — seventh highest among the states and 1.5 times the national average. The state’s foreclosure activity increased less than 1 percent from the previous month and was up nearly 72 percent from April 2006.
Ohio’s foreclosure activity surged in April, up 39 percent from the previous month and up 135 percent from April 2006, pushing the state’s foreclosure total to third largest in the nation. The state reported 11,431 foreclosure filings during the month, a foreclosure rate of one foreclosure filing for every 418 households — 1.9 times the national average.
Other states with foreclosure totals among the nation’s 10 highest in April were Texas, Illinois, Georgia, Michigan, Colorado, Connecticut and Arizona.
