New 'Unique Address' Measurement Shows More Than 573,000 Properties in Some Stage of Foreclosure During First Six Months of 2007 IRVINE, Calif., July 30 /PRNewswire/ -- RealtyTrac(R)(http://www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosureproperties, today released its Midyear 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report,which shows a total of 925,986 foreclosure filings -- default notices,auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- were reported on 573,397properties nationwide during the first six months of the year, up more than30 percent from the previous six-month period and up more than 55 percentfrom the first six months of 2006. The report also shows a foreclosure rateof one foreclosure filing for every 134 U.S. households for the first halfof the year. RealtyTrac publishes the largest and most comprehensive nationaldatabase of foreclosure and bank-owned properties, with over 1 millionproperties from nearly 2,500 counties across the country, and is theforeclosure data provider to MSN Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate and TheWall Street Journal's Real Estate Journal. "Despite a slight drop in June, foreclosure activity shows no sign ofslowing down," noted James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer ofRealtyTrac. "Based on the rate of foreclosure activity in the first half of2007, we could easily surpass 2 million foreclosure filings by the end ofthe year, which would represent a year-over-year increase of over 65percent." Nevada, Colorado, California post top foreclosure rates Nevada posted the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with oneforeclosure filing for every 40 households during the first half of 2007.The state reported a total of 25,208 foreclosure filings on 14,687properties, more than double the number of foreclosure filings reported inthe previous six-month period and nearly triple the number reported in thefirst half of 2006. Colorado reported one foreclosure filing for every 60 households duringthe first half of 2007, the nation's second highest state foreclosure rate.The state reported a total of 34,287 foreclosure filings on 19,411properties, a 15 percent increase from the previous six-month period and a38 percent increase from the first six months of 2006. With one foreclosure filing for every 69 households during the firsthalf of 2007, California registered the nation's third highest stateforeclosure rate. The state reported a total of 189,560 foreclosure filingson 104,572 properties, up 122 percent from the previous six-month periodand up 232 percent from the first half of 2006. Other states with foreclosure rates among the top 10 included Michigan,Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, Connecticut and Indiana. California, Florida, Texas, Ohio document largest foreclosure totals California's foreclosure filing total and unique property count wereboth highest among all the states in the first half of 2007. Floridareported the second highest totals, with 102,213 foreclosure filings on64,250 properties. Florida's foreclosure rate -- one foreclosure filing forevery 81 households -- ranked fifth highest among all the states. Texas reported 69,471 foreclosure filings in the first half of 2007 --the nation's third highest foreclosure filing total. But the state's uniqueproperty count of 41,592 came in fourth place behind Ohio's 44,594. Ohioreported 60,728 total foreclosure filings, the fourth most of any state.Other states with foreclosure filing totals among the nation's 10 highestwere Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, New Jersey and Arizona. New "Unique Property" feature provides additional detail The new "unique property" count is an addition to the RealtyTrac U.S.Foreclosure Market Report and presents the number of unique propertyaddresses with some type of foreclosure action filed against them duringthe six-month period. This new metric counts a property only once, even ifthere were multiple foreclosure filings against the property during thereport period. RealtyTrac will issue this count four times a year,including a mid-year and annual report. "The addition of this metric to our foreclosure report was spurred by adata request for unique property addresses from the Federal Reserve Bank,which is using our data for market and risk analysis, and we believe itwill serve as a valuable complement to the total foreclosure filing countthat we have been including all along," said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vicepresident of marketing. "It's interesting to note that the totalforeclosure filings and unique property counts reveal almost identicaltrends on the national level: foreclosure filings are up 39 percent fromthe previous six months and 56 percent from the first half of 2006; uniqueproperty counts are up 32 percent from the previous six months and up 58percent from the first half of 2006." The consistency is similar at the state level, where the same fivestates have the highest numbers of households in foreclosure andforeclosure filings, and the same six states have the highest percentagesof both foreclosure filings per household and percentage of households inthe foreclosure process. "The bottom line," Sharga noted, "is that nomatter how you count -- by individual households or by the total number offoreclosure filings -- foreclosure activity is up significantly in 2007. Wehope that by providing both the total amount of foreclosure activity andthe number of households involved, we're providing information thatlegislators, regulators, lenders, homebuyers and sellers can use to makeintelligent and informed decisions." Report methodology The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides the total numberof foreclosure filings nationwide and by state, along with the number ofhouseholds per foreclosure filing. The household numbers are based on theU.S. Census Bureau's 2005 estimates of total housing units. Beginning with the Midyear 2007 report, the report also includes countsof unique addresses in some stage of foreclosure. This new metric onlycounts a property once, even if there were multiple foreclosure actionsfiled against the property during the time period covered by the report. Data is also available at the individual county level. RealtyTrac'sreport includes documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default- Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction - Notice ofTrustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real EstateOwned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by abank). U.S. Foreclosure Market Statistics by State - Jan to Jun 2007 Rate State Foreclosure 1 filing % % Unique % % Rank Name Filings for every Change Change Props Change Change #HH from from from from prev 6 First prev 6 First months Half months Half 2006 2006 -- U.S. 925,986 134 39 56 573,397 32 58 38 Alabama 4,113 506 34 223* 3,203 41 209* 36 Alaska 579 474 1 18 563 1 19 8 Arizona 27,515 92 74 128 15,551 61 118 16 Arkansas 6,901 181 32 13 N/A -17 -35 3 California 189,560 69 122 232 104,572 80 170 2 Colorado 34,287 60 15 38 19,411 11 9 9 Connecticut 13,198 108 117 133* 5,559 202 489* 41 Delaware 540 694 113 190* 484 149 229* District of Columbia 40 6,944 -25 -33 N/A -25 -34 5 Florida 102,213 81 48 84 64,250 41 77 7 Georgia 45,027 84 24 13 26,623 21 17 43 Hawaii 531 925 56 59* 435 38 80* 22 Idaho 2,459 242 102 91 1,418 36 21 11 Illinois 42,998 120 7 33 30,524 16 39 10 Indiana 24,388 112 13 -6 14,046 4 7 29 Iowa 3,215 407 66 114* 1,995 39 117* 37 Kansas 2,508 477 9 38 1,573 21 44 31 Kentucky 4,503 414 7 55 3,122 -5 26 39 Louisiana 3,660 530 67 411* 2,385 -20 331* 46 Maine 509 1,343 292 660* N/A 129 22* 25 Maryland 7,034 323 207 215 5,706 206 280 15 Mass. 18,355 146 46 455* 7,946 63 334* 4 Michigan 55,896 80 30 47 40,175 25 84 30 Minnesota 5,519 408 57 122* 4,887 62 185* 45 Mississippi 939 1,316 44 140* 614 14 59* 17 Missouri 14,082 184 51 68 10,764 37 80 40 Montana 647 662 17 26 571 14 18 35 Nebraska 1,679 457 -13 52* 1,626 -12 84* 1 Nevada 25,208 40 102 195 14,687 78 152 32 New Hampshire 1,402 416 1511 2,237* N/A 72 188* 13 New Jersey 27,671 124 21 61 13,417 10 26 28 New Mexico 2,123 395 29 -41 1,507 12 -30 23 New York 26,146 300 2 -1 19,262 24 47 19 North Carolina 17,428 226 75 39 13,944 97 99 48 North Dakota 154 1,977 97 56 125 71 45 6 Ohio 60,728 82 43 56* 44,594 52 92* 20 Oklahoma 6,819 233 -5 -19 4,618 -20 -21 27 Oregon 4,634 336 29 -22 3,780 9 11 26 Pennsylvania 16,184 335 -13 -18 12,869 -3 -1 24 Rhode Island 1,489 301 58 343* N/A 129 473* 42 South Carolina 2,146 898 -17 -51 1,982 -15 -36 49 South Dakota 161 2,161 13 10 N/A 350 -79 12 Tennessee 21,447 123 22 12 12,313 19 19 14 Texas 69,471 130 -10 -13 41,592 -9 -8 18 Utah 4,633 188 -23 -34 3,437 -17 -36 50 Vermont 18 17,075 100 -50 14 367 -7 34 Virginia 7,430 427 204 289 5,413 235 345 21 Washington 10,988 241 29 10 7,480 22 11 44 West Virginia 722 1,208 62 69 N/A 56 99 33 Wisconsin 5,925 422 50 63 4,218 33 61 47 Wyoming 164 1,437 -37 12 142 -14 15 About RealtyTrac Inc. Ranked as the third largest real estate site by MediaMetrix and No. 53on Inc. magazine's 2006 Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growingprivate companies, RealtyTrac Inc. (http://www.realtytrac.com), is theleading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, providing all theresources that home seekers, investors and real estate agents need tolocate, evaluate and buy properties below market value. Founded in 1996, RealtyTrac publishes the largest and mostcomprehensive national database of pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, For SaleBy Owner, resale and new homes, with more than 1 million properties acrossthe country, property reports, productivity tools and extensiveprofessional resources. RealtyTrac hosts nearly 3 million unique visitorsmonthly and has been chosen to supply foreclosure data to MSN Real Estate,Yahoo! Real Estate and The Wall Street Journal's Real Estate Journal. Forcurrent news and information regarding foreclosure-related issues andtrends, visit our blog at http://www.ForeclosurePulse.com.
