220,000 homes in US reclaimed by banks in last three months

220,000 homes in US reclaimed by banks in last three months


No shelter from the storm: Foreclosures have spiked in the worst housing slump in the United States in decades. Picture: AFP
WASHINGTON

Saturday, July 26, 2008

14% leap in 2nd quarter foreclosures with another 739,714 cases filed

US HOME foreclosures leapt nearly 14 per cent in the second quarter from the previous quarter, research group RealtyTrac said yesterday in a sign of deepening housing woes. About 220,000 homes have already been repossessed by banks in the second quarter.

On an annual basis, home foreclosure filings soared 121 per cent from the same period in 2007, RealtyTrac said in releasing a survey of the country's 100 largest metropolitan areas.

Foreclosures have spiked in the worst housing slump in decades and a related credit crisis that have brought the economy to a crawl.

With home prices falling and unemployment and inflation rising, homeowners are increasingly hard-pressed to make their home loan payments.

RealtyTrac said that foreclosure filings were reported on 739,714 US properties during the second quarter.

The California-based company said that one in every 171 US households had received a foreclosure filing and the distress was nationwide.

According to the survey, 48 of the 50 states and 95 of the 100 major city regions had experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity.

"Although much of the fallout from foreclosures is being driven by rampant activity in a few states, such as Nevada, California, Florida, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan, most areas of the country are seeing at least some increase in foreclosure activity," said RealtyTrac chief executive James Saccacio said in a statement.

Nevada, California, Arizona and Florida, where home prices had boomed for several years before the collapse of the US housing market in 2006, led the country in foreclosures.

Nevada was the hardest hit, with one in 43 households in foreclosure action, nearly four times the national average rate. California had the most filings — a total of 202,599 — and had the second-highest rate at one in 65 households.

AFP