“If the trend continues, we could see one million properties lost to foreclosure across the country by year-end,” says Alexis McGee, expert, educator, and president of ForeclosureS.com. Now with an expanded data base of more than 5.5 million property listings, ForeclosureS.com has been the professional’s source for accurate foreclosure property information for more than 20 years. The company bases its analysis on the number of formal notices filed against a property during the foreclosure process. That can include notice of default, notice of foreclosure auction, and/or notice of REO (lender-owned real estate that occurs after a foreclosed property fails to sell at auction and reverts back to the lender).

REO filings for June (87,465) were up 5.35% over May, and up 15.76% quarter over quarter (2^nd quarter 244,230 filings vs. 210,980 1^st quarter), ForeclosureS.com reports.

Pre-foreclosures Exceed One Million

Pre-foreclosure filings already have surpassed the one million mark in the first half of the year, with 1,060,187 filings as of June 30, nearly double the 558,178 the same time a year ago. Looking at the numbers another way, 14.6 of every 1,000 households nationwide have been forced to deal with pre-foreclosure this year, up more than 87% from a year ago.

Quarter over quarter, however, the jump in pre-foreclosure filings was much less both in numbers (547,211 filings up 6.67% from 512,976 in 1^st quarter), and on a per household basis (7.6 filings for every 1,000 households, up 7.04% from the 1st quarter). Part of the reason for softened numbers was the 4.25% drop in June pre-foreclosures over May—181,779 vs. 189,854.

Optimism for the Future

“Nonetheless, Americans remain optimistic on the future of the housing industry as some of the newest industry numbers indicate,” says McGee. “Existing home sales were up 2% nationwide in May, according to National Association of Realtors, and California, a leader in numbers of foreclosure filings, reported an 18.1% increase in home sales in May,” McGee adds. “Dropping new construction and housing inventory numbers are positive signs, too, because that means housing oversupply is catching up with demand.”

Let’s look at more numbers from ForeclosureS.com:

• Triple digit increases in REOs on a per household basis YTD: Mississippi (21.5 filings per 1,000 households up 225.76% from YTD 2007); Arizona (21.4 per 1,000 up nearly 422% from YTD 2007), and Nevada (20.3 per 1,000 up 167.1% from YTD 2007).
• California leads in REO filing numbers: California (116,857 filings or 10.2 of every 1,000 households), Florida (43,744 filings or 7 of every 1,000 households), and Arizona (40,639 filings).
• Southwest struggles with most REO filings by household YTD: Southwest, 8.7 out of every 1,000 households; Southeast, 6.2 of every 1,000; Midwest, 6 out of 1,000; Northeast, 1.2 per 1,000, and Other States (Alaska and Hawaii), 1.1 per 1,000.
• June REO filings drop in Midwest, Northeast: Month to month REO filings by regions include the Southwest, 45,992 filings in June, up 3.44% from May’s 44,463; Southeast, 23,157 June filings up 18.51% from May’s 19,540 filings; Midwest, 15,494 June filings, down 3.19% from May’s 16,005; Northeast, 2,686 June filings down 7.51% from May’s 2,904 filings; and Other States, 136 June filings up 23.64% from May’s 110 filings.
• Triple digit increases in pre-foreclosure filings by household YTD include: Nevada (48.3 filings per 1,000 households, up 123.61% from YTD 2007; 35,705 filings YTD vs. 15,776 YTD 2007); Arizona (46.5 filings per 1,000 households YTD up 416.67% from YTD 2007; 87,773 filings YTD vs. 16,936 YTD 2007); Florida (40.9 filings per 1,000 households, up 188.03% from YTD 2007; 257,818 filings vs. 89,412 filings YTD 2007).