U.S. FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY DECREASES 10 PERCENT IN JANUARY
By RealtyTrac Staff

Overall Activity Up 15 Percent  From January 2009, REOs Up 31 Percent From January 2009
More Than 300,000 Properties  Receive Foreclosure Filings for 11th Straight Month

IRVINE, Calif. – Feb. 11, 2010 – RealtyTrac®  (www.realtytrac.com),  the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its January  2010 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows foreclosure filings — default  notices, scheduled auctions and bank  repossessions — were reported on 315,716 U.S. properties during the month,  a decrease of nearly 10 percent from the previous month but still 15 percent  above the level reported in January 2009. The report also shows one in every  409 U.S.  housing units received a foreclosure filing in January.

REO activity nationwide was down 5 percent from the previous month but still up 31 percent from January 2009; default notices were down 12 percent  from the previous month but still up 4 percent from January 2009; and scheduled foreclosure  auctions were down 11 percent from the previous month but still up 15  percent from January 2009.

“January foreclosure numbers are exhibiting a pattern very similar to a  year ago: a double-digit percentage jump in December foreclosure activity  followed by a 10 percent drop in January,” said James J. Saccacio, chief  executive officer of RealtyTrac  “If  history repeats itself we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few  months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans where neither the existing loan  modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure  alternatives works.”

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Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida post top state foreclosure rates
Despite a year-over-year decrease in  foreclosure activity of nearly 18 percent, Nevada’s  foreclosure rate remained highest among the states for the 37th  straight month. One in every 95 Nevada  housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month — more than four times the national average.

A 4 percent month-over-month increase in foreclosure activity boosted Arizona’s foreclosure rate to second highest among the states in January. One in every 129 Arizona housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month.

Foreclosure activity decreased by double-digit percentages from the previous month in both California and Florida, and the two states registered nearly identical foreclosure rates — one in every 187 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. California’s  foreclosure rate was statistically higher by a slim margin and ranked third highest among the states while Florida’s foreclosure rate ranked fourth highest.

With one in every 231 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing, Utah registered the nation’s fifth highest state foreclosure rate despite a nearly 12 percent month-over-month decrease in foreclosure activity.

Other states with foreclosure rates among the nation’s 10 highest were Idaho, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon and Georgia.

Six states account for nearly 60 percent of  national total
California, Florida and Arizona posted the three highest state totals in terms of properties receiving foreclosure filings in January, and together those states accounted for more than 44 percent of the national total.

Illinois posted the nation’s fourth highest total in January, with 18,120 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the month — a nearly 2 percent increase from the previous month and a 25 percent increase from January 2009.

Michigan posted the nation’s fifth highest total, with 17,574 properties receiving a foreclosure filing, and Texas posted the sixth highest total, with 12,225 properties receiving a foreclosure filing.

Other states with totals among the 10 highest in the country were Nevada (11,854), Georgia (11,274), Ohio (11,105) and New Jersey (6,146).

Phoenix only  top 10 metro area to post monthly foreclosure increase
Phoenix foreclosure activity increased nearly 4 percent from the previous month, and one in every 102 Phoenix housing units received  a foreclosure filing during the month — the second highest foreclosure rate among metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000. Phoenix was the only metro area among the top 10 to post a month-over-month increase in foreclosure activity.

Las Vegas documented the highest metro foreclosure rate, with one in every 82 housing units receiving a foreclosure  filing, despite a nearly 2 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from the previous month and a nearly 21 percent decrease in foreclosure activity from  January 2009.

Six California cities registered foreclosure rates among the top 10: Modesto at No. 3 (one in every 107 housing units); Stockton at No. 4 (one in 107); Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 5 (one in 109); Merced at No. 6 (one in 109); Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 7 (one in 112); and Bakersfield at No. 8 (one in 118).

Two Florida cities rounded out the top 10: Cape Coral-Fort Myers at No. 9 (one in 121); and Orlando-Kissimmee at No.10 (one in 143).

Report  methodology
The RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into  the RealtyTrac database during the month — broken out by type of filing by state, county and metropolitan statistical area. Some foreclosure filings  entered into the database during the month may have been recorded in previous  months. Data is collected from more than 2,200 counties nationwide, and those  counties account for more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. 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 received for a property during the month,  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 – January  2010

*Actual increase may not be as high  due to data collection changes or improvements
**Collection of records classified as  NOD began in August 2009 because of change in state law