I.E. is No. 5 nationwide in foreclosure filings

     Nationwide foreclosure activity dropped 3 percent in June, but the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario metropolitan area still ranks No. 5 in the country on the foreclosure filing totem pole.
     One in every 95 local households received a foreclosure filing, according to a report released this morning by Irvine-based real-estate data company RealtyTrac Inc.
     These so-called “filings” include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.
     June marks the region’s second consecutive month of being ranked at No. 5. In April, the area’s rank peaked at No. 4.
     Seven out of the top 10 cities in today’s report are in California, a sign that foreclosures will continue to pummel the state’s real-estate market for the time being.
     Foreclosure filings for California decreased 4.5 percent from May to June, but they’re up 77 percent when compared to June 2007.
     One out of every 192 households in California received a foreclosure filing in June, more than double the national average.
     Quarterly, the San Bernardino-Riverside-Ontario area ranks even worse.
     RealtyTrac said in late April that the region was No. 2 nationwide in foreclosure filings for the first quarter of this year. Its second-quarter report will be released in late July.
     –matthew.wrye@inlandnewspapers.com

     Look below to see RealtyTrac’s foreclosure report for June:

FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECREASES 3 PERCENT IN JUNE

ACCORDING TO REALTYTRAC U.S. FORECLOSURE MARKET REPORT

Foreclosure Activity Up 53 Percent From June 2007

IRVINE, Calif. – July 10, 2008 – RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its June 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 252,363 U.S. properties during the month, a 3 percent decrease from the previous month but still a 53 percent increase from June 2007. The report also shows one in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month.

RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1.5 million properties from over 2,200 counties across the country, and is the foreclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal.

“June was the second straight month with more than a quarter million properties nationwide receiving foreclosure filings,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “Foreclosure activity slipped 3 percent lower from the previous month, but the year-over-year increase of more than 50 percent indicates we have not yet reached the top of this foreclosure cycle. Bank repossessions, or REOs, continue to increase at a much faster pace than default notices or auction notices. REOs in June were up 171 percent from a year ago, while default notices were up 38 percent and auction notices were up 22 percent over the same time period.”

Nevada, California, Arizona post top state foreclosure rates

Despite slight monthly decreases in foreclosure activity, Nevada, California and Arizona continued to document the three highest state foreclosure rates in June.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 8,713 Nevada properties during the month, up nearly 85 percent from June 2007, and one in every 122 Nevada households received a foreclosure filing — more than four times the national average.

One in every 192 California properties received a foreclosure filing in June, the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate and 2.6 times the national average.

One in every 201 Arizona properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate and nearly 2.5 times the national average. Foreclosure filings were reported on 12,950 Arizona properties, down less than 1 percent from the previous month but still up nearly 127 percent from June 2007.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana and Utah.

California, Florida, Ohio report highest foreclosure totals

Foreclosure filings were reported on 68,666 California properties in June, down nearly 5 percent from the previous month but still up nearly 77 percent from June 2007. California’s total was highest among the states for the 18^th consecutive month.

Florida continued to register the nation’s second highest foreclosure total, with foreclosure filings reported on 40,351 properties in June — an increase of nearly 8 percent from the previous month and an increase of nearly 92 percent from June 2007. One in every 211 Florida properties received a foreclosure filing during the month, the nation’s fourth highest state foreclosure rate and 2.4 times the national average.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 13,194 Ohio properties in June, the nation’s third highest state foreclosure total. Ohio‘s foreclosure activity increased 7 percent from the previous month and 11 percent from June 2007. The state’s foreclosure rate ranked No. 6 among the 50 states.

Other states in the top 10 for total properties with filings were Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Illinois and New York.

California and Florida cities account for 9 of top 10 metro rates

For the third month in a row, California and Florida cities accounted for nine out of the top 10 metropolitan foreclosure rates among the 230 metropolitan areas tracked in the report.

Seven California metro areas were in the top 10, and the top three rates were in California: Stockton, with one in every 72 households receiving a foreclosure filing; Merced, with one in every 77 households receiving a foreclosure filing; and Modesto, with one in every 86 households receiving a foreclosure filing. Other California metro areas in the top 10 were Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 5; Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7; Bakersfield at No. 8; and Salinas-Monterey at No. 10.

The top metro foreclosure rate in Florida was once again posted by Cape Coral-Fort Myers, where one in every 91 households received a foreclosure filing — fourth highest among the nation’s metro foreclosure rates. The foreclosure rate in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranked No. 9.

Las Vegas continued to be the only city outside of California and Florida with a foreclosure rate ranking among the top 10. One in every 99 Las Vegas households received a foreclosure filing in June, more than five times the national average and No. 6 among the metro areas.

Metro areas with foreclosure rates among the top 20 included Phoenix at No. 12, Detroit at No. 13, Miami at No. 15 and San Diego at No. 17.

Report methodology

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing reported during the month — broken out by type of filing at the state and national level. Data is also available at the individual county level. 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 — which is extremely rare — only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The report also checks if the same type of document was filed against a property in a previous month. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state the property is in, the report does not count the property in the current month.