RealtyTrac: New Foreclosures Jump

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif., has reported that new foreclosure filings rose 19% in January and were 25% higher than the level recorded a year earlier.The company's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that 130,511 new foreclosure properties were added to the rolls in January. "January's foreclosure number represented the highest monthly number we've seen since we began issuing this report two years ago," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "The month-over-month increase is similar to what we saw last January, when foreclosures shot up 27% from the previous month. However, the year-over-year increase of 25% is well below the 45% annual increase we saw in January last year." The company said Nevada, Michigan, and Georgia recorded the highest foreclosure rates in January. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.