US Foreclosures Fall In September, Partly Due To Legislation

RealtyTrac, the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for September 2008 and Q3 2008. Foreclosure filings - default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions - were reported on 265,968 properties in September, a 12% decrease from the previous month but still a 21% increase from September 2007 (see map above). One in every 475 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in September (that’s 0.21% of households).

“Much of the 12% decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures,” said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

Six states accounted for more than 60% of U.S. foreclosure activity in the third quarter (CA, AZ, NV, FL, MI and OH). California alone accounted for more than 27 percent of the nation’s foreclosure activity, with 210,845 properties receiving a foreclosure filing during the quarter - up 4 percent from the previous quarter and up more than 122 percent from the third quarter of 2007.

The cities with the 10 highest foreclosure rates among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas in the third quarter were all located in California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

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