RealtyTrac: New Foreclosures Up

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif., has reported that the number of new properties in some stage of foreclosure rose about 2% in May.The company's U.S. Foreclosure Market Report indicates that 92,746 new foreclosure properties were added to the rolls in May. "Our May numbers echo the recent report by the Mortgage Bankers Association, which noted that delinquency and default activities were lower in the first quarter of 2006," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "While our report confirms that the number of properties entering foreclosure is still significantly higher than it was during the same period of 2005, we've now seen two months of decreasing foreclosure rates followed by May numbers that were essentially flat. That three-month trend indicates foreclosure activity has stabilized in most housing markets across the country after spiking sharply at the beginning of the year." The company said Colorado recorded the highest foreclosure rate of any state for the third consecutive month in May, jumping 13% (to 4,198 new foreclosures) from April's level. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.