Foreclosure Activity Decreases 4 Percent in Februrary

Foreclosure Activity Up Nearly 60 Percent From February 2007

IRVINE, CA – March 13, 2008 – RealtyTrac® (realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its February 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions — were reported on 223,651 properties nationwide during the month, a 4 percent decrease from the previous month but still a nearly 60 percent increase from February 2007. The report also shows one in every 557 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 million properties from nearly 2,500 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.

“The 4 percent monthly decrease this February was similar to the 6 percent monthly decrease we saw in February 2007,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “However, the year-over-year increase of 60 percent this February was significantly higher than the 19 percent year-over-year increase in February 2007, indicating we have still not reached the peak of foreclosure activity in this cycle.”

Nevada, California, Florida post top state foreclosure rates
Nevada continued to document the highest foreclosure rate among the states, with one in every 165 households receiving a foreclosure filing — more than three times the national average. Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 6,167 Nevada properties during the month, up 1 percent from the previous month and up 68 percent from February 2007.

California registered the nation’s second highest state foreclosure rate in February, with one in every 242 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, and Florida registered the nation’s third highest February foreclosure rate, with one in every 254 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. Both states documented foreclosure rates that were more than twice the national average.

Arizona foreclosure activity was up 6 percent from the previous month and nearly 210 percent from February 2007, helping the state’s February foreclosure rate — one in every 264 households received a foreclosure filing during the month — rank fourth highest in the nation.

With one in every 305 households receiving a foreclosure filing in February, Colorado’s foreclosure rate ranked fifth highest among the states despite a 1 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month. The state’s foreclosure activity was still up nearly 27 percent from February 2007.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 highest were Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee.

California, Florida, Texas report highest foreclosure totals
Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 53,629 California properties in February, the most of any state despite a 6 percent decrease from the previous month. The state’s foreclosure activity was still up 131 percent from February 2007.

With foreclosure filings reported on a total of 32,447 properties, Florida documented the second highest state total in February. The state’s foreclosure activity was up more than 7 percent from the previous month and more than 69 percent from February 2007.

Texas documented the third highest state total — 12,261 properties with foreclosure filings — despite a nearly 17 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month and a 1 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from February 2007. With one in every 736 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, the state’s foreclosure rate ranked No. 17 among the states and was below the national average.

Michigan and Ohio both reported more than 10,000 properties with foreclosure filings in February. Other states in the top 10 in terms of total properties with foreclosure filings reported were Arizona, Illinois, Georgia, Colorado and Nevada.

California and Florida cities dominate top metro foreclosure rates
California and Florida metro areas accounted for nine of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates in February. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., metro area documented the highest February foreclosure rate among the 229 metro areas tracked in the report, with one in every 84 households receiving a foreclosure filing — 6.7 times the national average. The other Florida metro area in the top 10 was Fort Lauderdale, which ranked No. 10.

The Stockton, Calif., metro area documented the second highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 87 households receiving a foreclosure filing in February. Other California metro areas in the top 10 were Modesto at No. 3, Merced at No. 4, Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 5, Bakersfield at No. 7, Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 8 and Sacramento at No. 9.

Las Vegas was the only metro area in the top 10 that was not in California or Florida. With one in every 131 households receiving a foreclosure filing in February, the city’s foreclosure rate ranked No. 6.

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.

About RealtyTrac Inc.
Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53 on Inc. magazine’s 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (realtytrac.com), is the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all the resources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need to locate, evaluate and buy properties below market value.

Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For Sale By Owner, resale and new homes, with more than 1 million properties across the country, property reports, productivity tools and extensive professional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitors monthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Journal. For current news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues and trends, visit our blog at www.ForeclosurePulse.com.

by RealtyTrac Staff