RealtyTrac: Foreclosures Rise Again

New foreclosure filings rose 5% in March and were 57% higher than the level recorded a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif. The company's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that 234,685 new foreclosure properties were added to the rolls in March. "The March numbers show that overall foreclosure activity so far this year continues to run nearly 60% above the levels we saw last year," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57% and bank repossessions were up nearly 129%, but auction notices were up only 32%, indicating that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender." The company said Nevada, California, and Florida again recorded the highest foreclosure rates in March. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.