August Foreclosures Jump 80 Percent: Report

Nearly 102,000 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure in August, up nearly 6 percent from July and more than 80 percent higher than in August 2007, according to data released Monday morning by real estate information data aggregator ForeclosureS.com.

So far this year, lenders have repossessed a record 656,545 properties nationwide, and remain on track to repossess more than 1 million nationwide by year-end, the company reported. Year to date, 1.45 million homeowners — or 19.6 of every 1,000 U.S. households — faced pre-foreclosure actions by lenders, almost double the number a year ago.

There is some good news: pre-foreclosures actions by lenders slowed slightly from July and more than half of the pre-foreclosure as well as REO activities can be attributed to just three states — Arizona, California and Florida.

As she has throughout the crisis, ForeclosureS.com president Alexis McGee continued to suggest that the housing market was showing signs of stabilization; it’s a position she has taken for at least the past four months in the face of rising foreclosures.

“While we continue to see record numbers of foreclosures and actions that may lead to foreclosure, and despite the higher 6.1 percent August unemployment rate, it does appear that the overall situation is beginning to stabilize,” McGee said. “Importantly, many regions of the country — particularly the Northeast and Midwest — have seen less-dramatic increase in foreclosures and pre-foreclosure activity in 2008 compared with 2007.”

The Southwest region, in contrast, reported by far the most foreclosed property filings year-to-date, 348,019 or 12.7 filings per 1,000 households. The Southeast, meanwhile, leads the nation in pre-foreclosure actions filed year to date with 477,177, or 27.5 filings per 1,000 households.

For more information, visit http://www.foreclosures.com.