U.S. home foreclosure filings in May increased from April and were a whopping 48 percent higher than a year earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said Friday

Home foreclosure filings in May totaled 261,255, up 7 percent from April, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosed properties, said in its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report. The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

"May was the third straight month where we've seen a month-to-month increase in foreclosure activity and the 29th straight month we've seen a year-over-year increase," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

In April, home foreclosure filings had risen 4 percent from March.

The surge in foreclosures indicates an increasing number of homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.

RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate in May was one foreclosure filing for every 483 U.S. households.

"The nationwide rate of increase for default notices and foreclosure auction notices slowed in May, with default notices up just 1 percent from the previous month and auction notices down 3 percent from the previous month," Saccacio said.

"However, bank repossessions continued to surge in May -- posting a double-digit percentage increase from the previous month and more than twice the number reported in May 2007 -- which pushed the total inventory of bank-owned REOs in our database to more than 700,000," he said.

REOs, or Real Estate Owned properties are those that have been foreclosed and repurchased by a bank.

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one foreclosure filing for every 118 households, followed by California and Arizona.

All three states had been among the hottest U.S. housing markets during the boom years from 2000 to 2005.

Default rates and foreclosures have jumped over the past year as the housing market deteriorated. As interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages reset higher, many homeowners who have been unable to sell their homes or refinance existing home loans amid a drop in house prices have been forced into foreclosure.

Nevada had 9,009 foreclosure filings in May, up nearly 24 percent from the previous month and a 72 percent increase from May 2007

California foreclosure activity in May increased 11 percent from the previous month, helping the state continue to register the nation's second-highest state foreclosure rate. One in every 183 California households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

California, the most populous U.S. state, reported 71,930 foreclosure filings, the most of any state and up 81 percent from May 2007.

Arizona ranked third highest in the nation, with one foreclosure filing for every 201 households in May.

It had 12,959 filings, up nearly 12 percent from April and almost 119 percent higher than a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.

Florida ranked fourth highest in the nation, with one foreclosure filing for every 228 households in May, for a total of 37,364 filings, up nearly 6 percent from April and 72 percent higher than a year earlier, RealtyTrac said.

 wow that is just crazy, it is getting ridiclous (?), at this point is there even any thing that can still be done?

 The average 3 bedroom home should not be worth more then 40 to 50k to begin with, I for 1 am happy to see the prices drop. Houses are meant to live not an investment to speculate on.

That's the problem with this country today, everyone wants to make an easy buck and they don't care what they are doing to their communities.

All you people that were speculating and using your homes as ATM's, I have no sympathy for your plight.

I'm tired of hearing that you all didn't know what you was signing, it was your responsibilty to read and understand the contracts, so stop looking for excuses. 

first it was the subprimes defaulting

now it's the Alt-A mortgages that are defaulting,

and it's not going to stop until we get to the "prime" mortgages 

podstock:

first it was the subprimes defaulting

now it's the Alt-A mortgages that are defaulting,

and it's not going to stop until we get to the "prime" mortgages 

Perfect time for foreign interests to come in and start, or rather continue buying up the country. It is a sad situation. I attribute a lot of the fault to sub-prime lenders who cater to young and low income families who could not afford to own houses, but were enticed by low rates and arms that made home ownership appealing. many people were claiming the housing slump and the general foreclosure woes were about over and things were taking an upswing. Many stated it just recently, well sorry. We are in this slide for a long while longer, and recovery will take several years.

majik13, you can't even buy the material to build a three bedroom home for $50,000. The material at Lowes or Home Depot for a 2100 sq. ft. three bedroom home here in WV is around $80,000, not to mention the lot. Speculators bring up home prices a little but not that much my friend. I too have no sympathy for speculators who got a 5 year ARM, speculation means taking a chance, and they took the chance and lost. We shouldn't bail them out. On the other hand, I also have no sympathy for homebuyers who bought more than they could afford. New home buyers knew they couldn't afford a $200,000 or $300,000 home, but they went ahead and got that interest only loan for 10 years, or that 5 year ARM, then when reality hit, they bailed. We shouldn't have to bail them out either, they knew what they were doing.

I remember calling one of those online mortage brokers, to check out what their fixed rate was, it was almost twice as high as the local banks. Thing is, the lady on the line said that the savy borrowers used them for their loans. I said yeah right. Ignorant people who bought into that $600 monthly payment on a $200,000 loan, being too stupid to realize that they were not paying anything on the principle, they were only paying interest for the first five or ten years, not a dime on the principle. Ah yes, the savy borrowers. I didn't know savy meant STUPID!

majik13:

 The average 3 bedroom home should not be worth more then 40 to 50k to begin with, I for 1 am happy to see the prices drop. Houses are meant to live not an investment to speculate on.

That's the problem with this country today, everyone wants to make an easy buck and they don't care what they are doing to their communities.

All you people that were speculating and using your homes as ATM's, I have no sympathy for your plight.

I'm tired of hearing that you all didn't know what you was signing, it was your responsibilty to read and understand the contracts, so stop looking for excuses. 

 

Thanks for the info.

Windbreaker:

Perfect time for foreign interests to come in and start, or rather continue buying up the country. It is a sad situation. I attribute a lot of the fault to sub-prime lenders who cater to young and low income families who could not afford to own houses, but were enticed by low rates and arms that made home ownership appealing. many people were claiming the housing slump and the general foreclosure woes were about over and things were taking an upswing. Many stated it just recently, well sorry. We are in this slide for a long while longer, and recovery will take several years.

As to the part that I highlighted, with the weaking Dollar, it is no surprise that foriegn investments are starting to flow into the country and buying us up. In fact, I pretty much expect this to continue unabated so as long as we see the Dollar falling against many of the major world currencies. You can thank bad fiscal and ESPECIALLY bad monetary policies for the weakening the Dollar to the point where it is hurting out economy. 

This has been a concern for me for the last few months and will be a concern so as long as the Dollar continues to weaken. As for this housing crisis.......I agree.......people buying outside thier means and borrowing too much or as an uninformed borrower is the main reason for this crisis, in additon to the banks taking advantage of the consumer. Both sides are to blame here, and need to take FULL responsibility for thier actions and take actions to fix this crisis. I am not sure if government intervention by itself will be effective in solving the housing crisis, but both the bankers and the borrowers need to take responsibility for thier actions and clean up this mess that they made!

As with any business there are your good times and your bad times.  Right now are the bad times.  I don't believe the government has done enough to assist the citizens of this country during this time of crisis.  If the government can find $600 Billion to perpetuate a war that has been waged for hundreds of years then certainly more can be done for the citizens who pay homage into this system.     

We are talking about getting what you paid 4, and with this current government that is not happening...this is the best "Texas Two-Step" I have seen to date...

When the conversation arises as to who was the best "Gangster" to have ever done it, if the answer isn't G.B., then contact me and I will get my list of properties I have for sale in Florida...real cheap.

I'VE BEEN THINKING WITH ALL THE FORECLOSURES TAKING PLACE AROUND THE COUNTRY IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT OUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE OVER INFLATED AND SHOULD COME DOWN?  I FEEL OUR RATES ARE FOR WHEN THE BOOM WAS TAKING PLACE AND IT'S NOT LIKE THAT NOW.  HERE IN CLEVELAND THERE ARE SO MANY FORECLOSURES IN EVERY SUBURB.  I FOR ONE HOPE OUR HOUSE TAXES DO COME DOWN.  I FEEL MINE ARE JUST TO HIGH CONSIDERING THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

GOLDIEC:

I'VE BEEN THINKING WITH ALL THE FORECLOSURES TAKING PLACE AROUND THE COUNTRY IS THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT OUR PROPERTY TAXES ARE OVER INFLATED AND SHOULD COME DOWN?  I FEEL OUR RATES ARE FOR WHEN THE BOOM WAS TAKING PLACE AND IT'S NOT LIKE THAT NOW.  HERE IN CLEVELAND THERE ARE SO MANY FORECLOSURES IN EVERY SUBURB.  I FOR ONE HOPE OUR HOUSE TAXES DO COME DOWN.  I FEEL MINE ARE JUST TO HIGH CONSIDERING THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AROUND THE COUNTRY.

Tecnically speaking, as the property values go down (especially with forclosures in the neighborhood), so should the property taxes. This should lend to taxes on the properties to go down as well. Thefore, if your taxes are still high for your property despite the gradually falling prices of houses in your town or city, I would contact your local taxation office and ask them why this is so. The other thing is that the assesments of the properties.......if they are incorrectly assesed higher than they are supposed to be, that would lead to the taxes being higher than what thy should be. I hoep that helps.