Foreclosure Activity Up 48 Percent From May 2007

RealtyTrac(R) (http://www.realtytrac.com/), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its May 2008 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report(TM), which shows foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- were reported on 261,255 properties during the month, a 7 percent increase from the previous month and a 48 percent increase from May 2007. The report also shows one in every 483 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing during the month, the highest monthly foreclosure rate since RealtyTrac began issuing the report in January 2005.

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.

"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," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "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. 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."

Nevada, California, Arizona post top state foreclosure rates

With one in every 118 households receiving a foreclosure filing in May, Nevada posted the highest state foreclosure rate for the 17th consecutive month. Foreclosure filings were reported on a total of 9,009 Nevada properties, an increase of 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 and 81 percent from May 2007, 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, a rate that was 2.6 times the national average.

Arizona's May foreclosure rate -- one in every 201 households received a foreclosure filing during the month -- ranked third highest among the states for the second month in a row. Arizona foreclosure activity increased nearly 12 percent from the previous month and almost 119 percent from May 2007.

One in every 228 Florida households received a foreclosure filing in May, giving it the fourth highest foreclosure rate among the states. Michigan foreclosure activity in May increased nearly 25 percent from the previous month, helping the state's foreclosure rate to jump to fifth highest among the states after ranking No. 9 the previous month. One in every 353 Michigan households received a foreclosure filing in May.

Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the top 10 were Georgia, Colorado, Massachusetts, Ohio and New Jersey.

California, Florida, Arizona report highest foreclosure totals

Foreclosure filings were reported on 71,930 California properties, 37,364 Florida properties and 12,959 Arizona properties, the three highest state totals in May. Michigan was not far behind Arizona, with 12,792 properties receiving foreclosure filings during the month.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 12,295 Ohio properties in May, the fifth highest state total despite a nearly 7 percent decrease from May 2007. With one in every 410 households receiving a foreclosure filing, Ohio's foreclosure rate ranked No. 9 among the states and was above the national average.

Georgia foreclosure activity increased 11 percent from the previous month and 23 percent from May 2007, giving the state 10,241 properties with foreclosure filing in May -- the nation's sixth highest total. And with one in every 378 Georgia households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month, the state's foreclosure rate also ranked No. 6 among the states.

Other states in the top 10 for total properties with filings were Texas, Illinois, Nevada and New Jersey.

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

For the second 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 cities were in the top 10, led by Stockton in the top spot. One in every 75 Stockton area households received a foreclosure filing in May -- more than six times the national average. Other California cities in the top 10 were Merced at No. 3, Modesto at No. 4, Riverside-San Bernardino at No. 5, Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7, Bakersfield at No. 8, and Sacramento at No. 9.

The Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area in Florida registered the second highest metro foreclosure rate in May, with one in every 79 households receiving a foreclosure filing during the month. The other Florida metro area in the top 10 was Port Lucie-Fort Pierce at No. 10.

Las Vegas was the only city outside of California and Florida with a foreclosure rate ranking among the top 10. One in every 96 Las Vegas households received a foreclosure filing in May, 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. 14, San Diego at No. 17 and Miami at No. 19.

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.

            U.S. Foreclosure Market Data by State -- May 2008

                          Properties with Foreclosure Filings
                                                                 %      %
                                                     1/every  change  change
  Rate State                                           X HH    from    from
  Rank Name   NOD   LIS    NTS    NFS    REO   Total  (rate)  Apr 08  May 07

  -- U.S. 58,583 54,148 52,717 22,013 73,794 261,255     483   7.36    48.32
  45 Alabama   1      0    113      0    388     502   4,203 -21.81   -24.62
  33 Alaska    0      0    149      0     22     171   1,617  15.54    27.61
   3 Arizona  12      0  8,660      0  4,287  12,959     201  11.52   118.98
  24 Arkansas 79      0    903      0    258   1,240   1,027  11.31   -10.14
   2 Ca.  41,965      0  9,728      0 20,237  71,930     183  11.20    81.37
   7 Colorado  9      0  3,250      0  2,138   5,397     388 -10.05   -14.62
  20 Conn.     0  1,291      0    250     90   1,631     878  -4.45   -29.94
  31 Delaware  0      0      0    112    149     261   1,467  97.73* 183.70*
     District
      of
     Columbia 38      0    283      0     69     390     725  37.81 3800.00*
   4 Florida   0 25,736      0  7,353  4,275  37,364     228   5.96    72.15
   6 Georgia  69      0  6,057      0  4,115  10,241     378  11.45    23.47
  42 Hawaii   29      0    116      0     17     162   3,087 -22.86    25.58
  17 Idaho   463      0    258      0     87     808     762   6.46    79.96
  11 Illinois  0  6,663      6    707  2,294   9,670     538  15.35    41.71
  12 Indiana   0  1,268      0  1,935  1,695   4,898     563  -3.32     3.01
  41 Iowa      0      0    256      0    194     450   2,934 -14.77   -13.46
  35 Kansas    0     98      0    243    347     688   1,756 -13.24    58.89
  38 Kentucky  0    123      0    426    196     745   2,534  46.08     2.19
  39 Louisiana 0      0      0    568    135     703   2,603   9.33    38.11
  40 Maine   127      0    102      0     13     242   2,856 -22.93    70.42
  22 Maryland  0  1,749      0    209    393   2,351     979 -61.15    33.13
   8 Mass.     0  2,975      0  1,584  2,117   6,676     406  32.83*  54.61*
   5 Mich. 2,383      0  5,265      0  5,144  12,792     353  24.57    35.21
  25 Minn.    27      0  1,247      0    930   2,204   1,036  56.87*  98.38*
  46 Miss.     0      0    100      0     85     185   6,711   5.71   -15.53
  13 Mo.   1,961      0    705      0  1,566   4,232     620  38.71    53.83
  43 Montana   0      0    125      0     12     137   3,153  24.55     0.74
  37 Nebraska  0     19      0    243     60     322   2,406 -39.36    21.51
   1 Nev.  5,035      0  1,095      0  2,879   9,009     118  23.82    72.09
  19 New
      Hamps.   0      0    382      0    294     676     873   1.35    71.14
  10 New
      Jersey   0  4,826      1  1,888    715   7,430     467  44.47*  89.15*
  36 New
      Mexico   0    378      0      9     61     448   1,898  26.55    37.85
  32 New York  0  3,606      0    817    850   5,273   1,500  -7.43    24.86
  26 North
      Car. 2,412      0    149      0  1,225   3,786   1,064  14.69    23.52
  48 North
      Dakota   0      0      0      1     21      22  13,991   4.76   -26.67
   9 Ohio      0  3,370      2  3,334  5,589  12,295     410   5.27    -6.95
  29 Okla.   334      0    525      0    354   1,213   1,325 -30.41    30.71
  23 Ore.  1,040      0    409      0    131   1,580   1,004  -2.89    91.52
  34 Penns.    0  1,064      0  1,598    554   3,216   1,696  -1.53    11.16
  18 Rhode
      Island   0      0    419      0    127     546     823  24.37   107.60
  30 South
      Car.     0    136      0    246    968   1,350   1,463 103.93* 267.85*
  47 South
      Dakota   0      0      0     29      1      30  11,760 -11.76    15.38
  14 Tenn. 1,206      0  1,492      0  1,495   4,193     639   1.87     9.68
  21 Texas   157      0  5,522      0  4,384  10,063     917 -11.77     4.25
  16 Utah     95      0    938      0    303   1,336     675   1.37    68.05
  50 Vermont   0      0      1      0      2       3 103,186    N/A   -40.00
  15 Virg. 1,136      0  2,486      0  1,205   4,827     669  -7.65   172.71
  27 Wash.     5      0  1,912      0    581   2,498   1,081   4.21    17.55
  49 West
      Virg.    0      0     33      0      9      42  20,900 -44.00   -72.73
  28 Wisc.     0    846      0    461    701   2,008   1,262 -11.39    94.95
  44 Wyoming   0      0     28      0     32      60   3,986  87.50*  42.86*

*Actual increase may not be as high due to data collection changes or improvements

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. (http://www.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.

Web site:
http://www.realtytrac.com/
http://www.foreclosurepulse.com/