RealtyTrac: New Foreclosures Rose 25% in '05

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif., has reported that 846,982 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure in 2005, a 25% increase.The company's 2005 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report is based on the company's database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, which it says includes more than 550,000 properties in nearly 2,000 counties across the country. "Overall, U.S. foreclosure numbers climbed steadily over the course of the year, with more new foreclosures reported in every quarter," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "This trend appears to be moving the real estate foreclosure market back to its historic levels." The company said Florida had the nation's highest foreclosure rate and accounted for more than 14% of new foreclosures last year, despite a 29% decrease in new foreclosures in the state from the first quarter to the fourth. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.