RealtyTrac: New Foreclosures Up 42%

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace based in Irvine, Calif., has reported that more than 1.2 million foreclosure filings were reported nationwide in 2006, a 42% increase.The company's 2006 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report is based on the company's database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, which it says includes more than 800,000 properties in nearly 2,500 counties across the country. "While foreclosures are not at historically high levels, a 42% year-over-year increase is certainly noteworthy," said James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac's chief executive officer. "The increase in the number of properties in foreclosure was driven partly by the general slowing of overall housing sales, and partly by the impact of monthly mortgage payments increasing dramatically for homeowners who held some of the riskier types of adjustable-rate and subprime mortgages." The company said Colorado had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, at 3%, and Texas recorded the highest number of foreclosures, 156,876, or nearly 13% of the national total. RealtyTrac can be found online at http://www.realtytrac.com.